A Story to Remember
by Csjk13blue
Summary: Georgia has an old life, where her father is helpless, her brother is far away, and noone can help her. But she has a New life, where she is moved to a different country, with no other choice but to try and fit in. The problem is, she doesn't like fitting in, so who will mind when she starts a new friendship with a boy who has secrets that he is willing give up for one girl?
1. Chapter 1

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 1: Me, Georgia Anne Summers**

I can remember it all. Though most of the time I choose not to.

The tears streaming down my face, stinging my cheeks as if it was the first time they had flooded down my face.

My idiotic, angry, suicidal stepmother screaming at me. Slapping me across the face and shouting at me to grow up, and to be more like her.

I describe her as 'Suicidal' because, well, really... She was asking for it.

2 Years Ago:

My Dad split up with my Mum. I know, I know, every other 14 year olds story. Well, this was different. They were best friends, even after they got the final divorce. They had never argued. They just...weren't in love anymore. But, what makes it 'different' is the fact that, they saw each other every day. My mum would come over to Dad's to see me, and him, and we were still like a normal family, except they weren't married anymore.

I was okay with it all, though of course, everybody else thought it was a little strange, even my best friends. I didn't mind though, after all, my mum and dad were still getting along, weren't they?

Queenshall High was and still is an ordinary high school, in Queenshall, Stockport, England. Where I live. There are the Nerds, the 'Cool' people, the nice people and of course...what's a high school without any bitches? School was okay for me, I had good friends, and the occasional ones that only stick around for you to finish their homework. I was getting good grades, doing nearly everything right, and like my friends Eve, Ellenor, Carley and Shian, I looked forward to getting to school a lot of the time.

My life out of school was good too. My mum and Dad getting along, me running track for Greater Manchester, and my 9 year old little brother Hal was doing just fine as well.

Everything was great.

A girl from school called Shannon Ashton started to get on my nerves. She kept calling me fat (I don't see how since she clearly looked a lot heavier than me), and whenever I was with my friends, she would say stuff about them too- that's what got me agitated.

However, I chose to ignore her, and everyone else that tried to bother me didn't succeed, even if they brought up the fact that my older brother Will was all the way over in America, flying planes over the Indian Ocean.

He had always wanted to be a pilot, like our Granddad who flew a Spitfire in World War Two. And I had always wanted to be an athlete, to compete in the Olympics. And as for Hal, well, he's following in Will's footsteps...

Will is 18, and he's been overseas for about a year now, but he comes home every 2 months, drops in for about 4 days to say hi.

Anyway, my Dad began to act funny with my mum. Whenever she would come over, he would say things in a sarcastic or meaningless, stupid way. Obviously, she cottoned on at last and knew something was wrong.

One day she was just getting her coat to leave when she asked me: "George, have you noticed anything about your dad that seems different?"

"Yes! He's been acting strange, but ..."

"But what, sweetheart?" She pushed me.

"But... only when you're here." I struggled to get the words out, and I tried to make it sound as if it didn't mean anything, as if she should just brush it off and get on with life like it was nothing. She didn't take the bait.

"OK. Maybe he's just having a hard time at work. I've got to go now, sweetie, bye." And she walked out the door.

Day after day I waited, practically running home from school to see if she was there. But she didn't return. Ever.

Will was coming home. For a week this time! It had been 4 weeks since Mum left, and I had soon realised that there was no point wasting time waiting for her to come back, when I might never see her again. It was Friday when Will arrived.

"George! Hal!" Will came through the door, acting shocked to see me and Hal standing there after we'd turned the lights on (our literal idea of a surprise.)

"Will!" Me and Hal chorused together.

After all the hugs were over my two brothers sat down on the sofa whilst I made toasties for us all. We talked and talked as we bit into the crispy ham and cheese filling sandwiched in golden toasted bread.

It was 1:00 when Dad finally got home. Me and Will had sent Hal to bed way before, and he insisted I go too, but I stayed downstairs, catching up with Will whilst we waited for our Dad to return.

As it reached 12:30 I started to worry and began making up stories and explanations for him being so late in my mind whilst Hal checked the clock continuously.

Eventually, though, he came home.

"Dad! Where on earth have you been?!" I stood up as he walked through the door, his tie in his hand, shirt un-tucked, shoes blotched with mud.

"We were starting to worry." Will added. "Woah, what the hell happened to you?" The corners of his mouth began to tilt into a smirk.

"Nice to see you too, Son." He replied, walking over to hug Will. Turning to me afterwards. "Hey squirt." He ruffled my straight, brown, mid-long hair.

"Hi. But seriously, what happened? Are you OK?" I didn't waste time.

"I'm absolutely fine. Now go to bed, it's 1 o'clock!" He exclaimed as he gazed at the Lascelles clock above the kettle.

"I know, that's why I was worried. You were _supposed_ to get home at seven, when Will got here." I gave him an exasperated look.

"I don't mind about that, but where have you been, Dad? Was it work?" Will started interrogating now, too.

"Listen, I'll tell you everything _tomorrow_! Now go upstairs, I can imagine you're tired Will; and you George, now go." It looked as if we weren't going to get any answers tonight, so we headed up the beige carpeted stairs. But we'd try again tomorrow...

I woke up at 6:57, according to my digital clock on my bedside table. Three minutes before my alarm was due to go off. I was tired after the long night last night, so I was able to get two more minutes sleep before the never-ending beep started.

Dad was downstairs before me, as usual and I wasn't surprised; even if he was tired to the point he couldn't keep his eyes open, he was always there before me. After me came Will, and then Hal.

"Don't you want a lie in today?" I asked Will, as he sipped the Tropicana Orange Juice his glass was half full with.

"No, I'd rather just get into a good cycle. I'm planning to go for a jog, as long as I don't fall asleep on the kitchen counter." He finished his sentence with a small chuckle. It was good to have him back.

"Good look with that!" Hal finished off the conversation with this, and a small chuckle exactly the same as Will's.

I always set off first, at 8 o'clock. It took me about twenty-five minutes to get to school, and we had to be in Form by forty-five past. It gave me time to meet my friends and have a chat before school started. Hal would leave at about forty-five past eight. It only took him fifteen minutes to walk to school (Queensgate Primary), he had to be there for nine. Then Dad would leave and so on.

Whenever Will was home, he would every day pick up Hal from Queensgate, and walk home with him. That's one of the many things that I love about my brothers: Family _ALWAYS_ comes first for them.

Unlike someone that was soon to enter our story...


	2. Chapter 2

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 2: New Friends**

Monday, 3 days after Will had got home.

Will picked up Hal from school and got home surprised to see me there first.

"How'd you get here?" Will questioned.

"Eve gave me a lift from school because it's raining." I answered casually, though nor me or eve usually got lifts to or from school.

"Lucky." Hal said as he put down his rucksack and went to sit in the lounge.

"I'm hoping Dad gets home not too late, so that I can interrogate him further." Will laughed as he finished off his sentence and opened the fridge.

"Yeah, me too." I replied, deliberately smirking so he could see how curious I was.

We ate at 5, a little earlier than usual. Dad had got home 10 minutes earlier so he was just in time to get a big bowl of the leftover Fajita mix leftover from last Thursday. Straight away after dinner, I was immediately waiting impatiently to ask dad about what happened Friday night. Me and Will had continuously tried on both Saturday and Sunday, but Dad just shooed us and told us it was the weekend and he wanted to relax. He worked all weekdays, but got the weekend off.

"Dad?" I tried to sound casual as I rinsed my plate and put it in the dishwasher

"Yes?" He replied, normally. But I suspected he knew what I was up to already.

"About Friday night..." I tried to lead him onto the subject so that he'd carry on my sentence.

"Ah, I should've known this was coming." He complemented this with a sigh. " There's a new boss at the co-op." He worked at a co-operative petrol station. "She's very pushy and shouldn't have the job at all, she makes us all trot around after her and do whatever she says." He sighed again, annoyed this time. "It's ridiculous, she treats us like slaves."

His voice was tired so I tried not to sound too urging. "Why don't you say anything? I mean, it's not like she's going to fire you for just putting in a comment."

"It's not that easy, George. She could very easily tell the Head-Boss that I was behaving badly, and he'd sure as hell believe her!" I hated him having to be pushed around, basically bullied by someone that sounded like she should be working in a nail salon.

I left it at that. He was obviously frustrated, and I didn't want to try and push anymore information out of him; so I reported back to Will.

She came at 7. Knocked on the door so much I thought she was going to know=ck it down. I opened it to see a wide-grinning, designer-dressed woman staring at me.

"Erm, Hi." I was and never will be good at sociability.

"Hello, young lady! Is Dan Summers in?" She had an enthusiastic, high pitched voice. Fake.

"Yeaahh, I'll just go get him..." There was no reason to be nice with the lady that was obviously my dad's boss.

"OK." She gave me once again, an excited look, and stepped into the house without my permission.

I ran upstairs, rushing to find my dad so that she wouldn't be downstairs by herself for long, enabled to freely walk wherever she'd like. "DAD!" I shouted.

"YEAH?" He replied.

"THERE'S A LADY DOWNSTAIRS!" I shouted once again...

"OH?" His voice was confused. I knew he knew who she was. He stomped down the stairs, still in his work uniform, but it was scruffy: he always un-tucked his shirt, took off his tie and rolled up his sleeves as soon as he got home. "Oh, Hello Boss." He tried to hide both his confusion and his tension as he stepped onto cold, wooden hallway floor.

"Dan." She said this with a tone that gave the impression that it was strictly business. Whereas she had treated me like a 5 year old..

"Sorry, but do you mind me asking why you're here?" His brow furrowed as he said this as casually as he could.

"I'm here to discuss a new timetable. You will now come in from 6am till 8pm, every day." She replied, her voice sharp.

"But...I thought we didn't have a short of staff anymore; in fact, we just employed a guy to work on the till." He was shocked, and I could tell he was fighting back his rage.

"I know, but I feel you are all slacking, and slacking will not do!" She pointed her finger as she said this, treating him like a child in reception who had accidentally messed up the sand-box.

"Oh..." He tried to keep his voice calm, but it was quivering with fury. "OK." He ended the conversation.

She just stared at him, pleased. So I stared at her, gave her the dirtiest look I could manage to pull onto my face. Then she turned to me, I struggled to keep my look as she stared at me expectedly. I was confused at first, but then it clicked as soon as her eyes flashed to the door handle and back. 'What a ..._bitch_!' I thought to myself. But I put on a sarcastic look and 'politely' held the door open for her.

Dad didn't want to talk about it. Any of it.

It was getting late when Will wandered into the lounge and asked if the Football game had finished. Dad just stared blankly into space. I beckoned to Will to talk outside the lounge...

"His Boss came over and told him he had to work extra shifts. 6 till 8!" And I wasn't exaggerating.

"What?! That's ridiculous! He'll hardly see any of us! And I only have limited time here." He replied, his tone mainly upset with a spoonful of anger.

"I know. But..." I grabbed his arm before he could enter the lounge again, "You can't say anything! He's upset too, and he doesn't want to talk about it, Kay?" I asked.

"Yeah, OK." His face fell into sadness and a wave of depression flushed over me as I truly realised how little Will _already _saw dad, never mind _now_!

Wednesday. Another new day.

I woke up not remembering at first, but then the anger and upset subsided me into darkness once more, as it had yesterday. I tried so, so hard to take my mind off it, but schoolwork seemed to be the only thing that came even close. I was more tired than usual, and throughout the day, I blanked out several times.

"George, you're going to have to try your best not to fall asleep." Eve reminded me, and this awoke me from my nap halfway through Science.

"I'm trying." I said sleepily. "I just..." I trailed off, not knowing how to explain. "I just need to get my head sorted." That was enough; I couldn't go into detail, not now. I was too tired...

Hal answered the door before I could get downstairs.

"Hello young man. Is your big brother Will in?" I recognised the over-friendly tone before I could see her face. It was _her. _She who had practically put a wall between us and our dad.

"Hal. Go into the lounge and watch TV." I wanted it to be just me and her. He did what I said and my eyes followed him until he shut the door. _Then _I turned to her.

"Hello George." She used the annoying voice again, as if I was a toddler.

"It's Georgia." I replied coldly. Everyone called me George, I liked it. But this was an exception.

"Oh, Yes." Her voice took and unexpected turn as she said the words in a stale voice. "I've come to tell you that your father is going to be home late today."

"He's home late _every day._" I emphasised on the last word to tell her deliberately what I thought of her. How low she was.

"Yes, well, that's just LIFE, isn't it!" I didn't think she'd be so close to shouting as she was. "I thought I'd come and see a tour of your house." She said this last bit in a more soothing voice.

"That might be a problem." I was trying to get the message through that I had better things to do with the rest of my day. I didn't want to be in the same country with her, never mind the same house! "I have lots of chores, so..." _Get the message already!_ I thought.

"That shouldn't be difficult, I'll just have a chat with your brothers!" OK this was getting annoying. She was doing this deliberately, to tease me, infuriate me to the point where I would break.

"No, I think it's best you leave." Her face grew more and more _un_friendly. "Sorry, but we're _all_ busy."

"Ok then." She finished. And - this time not beckoning for me to open the door- left.


	3. Chapter 3

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 3: Slowly but Surely**

She didn't bother to come again. Thank God. Dad was growing more frustrated as the days passed by. Will's time had run out, and as Friday came, we drove him to the airport. After the hugs were over, he walked to the terminal, dragging his suitcase behind him as we waved goodbye. It was always sad to see him go, we all missed him so much.

There was no sign of Mum. Neither me or Hal had a clue of where she might have gone, or why; we just carried on, though I was suspicious that Dad was hiding something.

"Have you done the Art homework, George?" Ellenor interrupted my thoughts as we walked down the corridor to Maths, 4th period.

"Erm, yeah. You?" I replied, I had been sidetracked and I was trying my best to get back to the real world.

"Yeah, but I couldn't find many pictures." She looked ahead, not able to see my dazed expression.

"Me neither. Turns out Leon Seurat is hard to find!" I tried to add a laugh at the end, so she didn't suspect anything was up.

Maths was boring, as usual, and I didn't give Mr Hent any of my attention as he bored the class to sleep. Art was next, and it cheered my mood a little. I sat next to Ellenor, and got my pictures out. Most of ours were the same, just shows how unpopular this Leon guy is. Nevertheless, I liked Art, and- trying not to sound completely bigheaded- I was good at it. We spent half the lesson on the topic our homework was set on, but then thankfully we were launched onto portraits for the second half.

"OK class, so we're going to start Self-Portraits as our next topic." Miss announced. Oh dear. If there was one thing I despised about Art, it was this. I hated having my picture taken, never mind _drawing _myself! But eventually the lesson finished, and despite the fact I was forced into drawing my ugly face on A4 card, it wasn't that bad.

When I reached home, Dad was there; a surprise since he had been working so late recently.

"Hey, George." He said enthusiastically.

"Hey, Dad. You're home early..." I deliberately tried to sound suspicious.

"Yeah, I know." He still had the excited tone in his voice. "I was thinking, and I decided that I think we all need a holiday!" My face suddenly turned to shock as my bag fell to the floor.

"What?" I was completely astounded.

"Yeah, we need it, all of us." He tried to sound as convincing as he could.

"Now?" I questioned with almost anger. He nodded. "Dad! We can't! Me and Hal are at school at the moment, can't this wait?" No matter how hard it was to deny a holiday, I had to be sensible about this.

"Well, all I'm saying is that _I _need some time off, _you_ need some time off, and, Hal just needs to have a little fun." He put on a soft tone now, obviously trying to calm my sudden burst of shock and -what he thought was- exaggeration.

"No, Dad." I calmed my voice too. "We can't, not now." I put my hand to my forehead, sighing, to see if that would make him see how stupid he was being.

"OK." He agreed, and I was thankful. "Summer then?" He asked, the corners of his mouth pulling up into a jokey smile.

"Yeah, summer." I took down my hand and smiled back.

We had dinner at about 6 o'clock. Dad always did something easy on Mondays, mainly because we were all tired and he didn't care to fuss about. So an easy chicken and tiger bread sandwich for us each did the trick.

Hal was finding it hard without Will here. It made it even harder that he had stayed longer this time, and Hal was only nine, he doesn't really know how to deal with these sorts of things; but he seems to do pretty well anyway.

"Hal?" I called a I slumped upstairs.

"Yeah?" He called back from his bedroom.

I pushed his door open slowly so he knew I was coming in. "Hey." I said as casually as I could.

"Hey." He gave me that lovely smile that he and Will both had.

"What you doing?" I was comfortable talking with Hal. We spent so much time together, and I pretty much told him everything about when Mum left; he was puzzled and didn't know why she had, so I tried my best to explain as much as I could. The problem was, I didn't know much myself.

"I was just about to go on my DS." He replied. I wanted to talk to him about everything... why dad's boss came round, reasons why mum might have left, how much we both missed Will; but I was afraid he might not understand things as much.

"OK." I paused before I began..."Do you mind if I talk to you for a bit?" I asked, keeping my head down, feeling slightly shamed at the fact that this should probably be the other way around.

"No! Go ahead." He turned to me so that we were both sat cross-legged on his bed.

"I wanted to talk about everything that's been going on lately..." I started, "about Mum, and, dad's boss, and Will." I tried to keep it going. "I want you to know that I'm not keeping anything from you, I don't know why Mum left."

"I know that." I was glad to hear the words.

"And, it might be something to do with work, anyway. Maybe she just didn't want to say goodbye because she would miss us too much..." I was thinking up the conclusions as I went along, trying to figure out reasonable explanations for why she would leave.

"Maybe..." He agreed, but I could hear the tad of disapprove in his voice. "What about that strange lady, dad's boss?" He obviously knew a lot more than I gave him credit for.

"How did you know she was Dad's boss?" I asked, a suspicious smile brewing on my face.

"I know quite a few things." He smiled back, and I was glad to see that even through dark times, we could both manage a smile.


	4. Chapter 4

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 4: People come and Go**

We grew closer and closer as time passed by, me and Hal. We had always _always _been close, but right now...we both knew we had to pull together and stay strong. Things were slowly going downhill for dad, his boss was keeping him now from 5am till 11pm. He was constantly tired and didn't talk as much anymore.

Mum called, the morning after I had that talk with Hal about everything. She said she was sorry, but she couldn't keep pretending that everything was okay, that everything was fine when it wasn't. I was just about to ask what exactly was wrong when she said "Goodbye, George." and hung up.

School was the main place I could escape from everything that was going on. I told Eve about what was going on, and she tried to encourage me that everything would turn out fine. I believed her at first, but things just kept getting worse...

Hal was getting upset that Dad never talked to him anymore. He told me that the only people he completely trusted was me and Dad, but since Dad n longer talked to him, he would stick with me always. His exact words were: "Dad never talks to me anymore... The only people I can trust are you and Dad, but, he doesn't talk, so I promise, I'll stay with you forever, George." It saddened me to hear him talk like this, and see him walk to school by himself every morning. We both missed Will more than ever, and I just wished he would come home as soon as possible...

The next day I called him, he was only allowed 2 phone calls a fortnight on the ship in the Indian Ocean, so far away from where we were.

"Will, we miss you. Hal needs you, and I know you can't come home yet, but... Dad's not talking much and his work is ruining him." I confided in Will.

"Don't worry George, I've only got 2 more weeks here until I'm home again." He was about to say more when I cut in.

"Mum called..." I left the sentence hanging. Waiting for him to react. But there was just silence. "She said she was sorry, that she just couldn't carry on the way things were." I finished, waiting for him to reply.

"Sorry just isn't enough sometimes..." I heard his deep sigh. "Did she explain anything more?" He asked.

"No, I was about to ask, but she said Goodbye and hung up..." I was deep in thought as soon as I ended the sentence. "I think Dad's hiding something; she said she couldn't pretend anymore, that everything was fine. But I thought everything was fine." It was then that I realised the droplets of tears slowly making their way down my cheeks. My mouth started to quiver, and I couldn't help the cry that my voice strained on as I dropped the phone and fell to the floor.

"George? GEORGE?" I could faintly hear Will's voice on the phone a foot away from me. I picked up the phone, managing to pull it up to my ear, my other hand wiping the tears from my eyes. "George?" He called, his voice filled with upset.

"I'm here." My voice quivered and shook the words as they exited my mouth.

"George, I'm coming home, don't worry. Take good care of Hal until I get there." And the other end cut off, leaving me sat desperately on the floor, the phone still held to my ear.

I came out of my depressed trance as Hal came running up the stairs. "George." He sighed as e reached the top only to see the streaks the tears had left down my face.

"Hi, Hal. Don't worry, everything's fine.." I tried my very best to make my voice smooth as I dried my cheeks.

He didn't say anything. He just put his arms around me and squeezed me, comforted me. I sighed as I flung my arms around him too, giving him a never-ending hug. Will was coming, and we were going to make everything okay again, I promised myself.

"Hal, I'm gonna walk you to school today." I said the next day, when he happily walked into the kitchen. We had decided to go on and be as happy as we could, for each other's _and_ Dad's sake.

"Really? But you have to be at school for the time I even set off." He was surprised, I never got the chance to walk him to school.

"I know." I said in a voice telling him I was smiling. "I'm going to anyway." And I turned around just in time to see the smile fill up his face as he poured his orange juice into a cup.

I walked him all the way to the school playground, and waited and watched him have fun with his friends until they were called inside. It reminded me of when I used to come here, from when I was three to when I was eleven. I had some happy memories of this place.

I reached my form room at five past nine, just before everyone was about to leave. Everyone was surprised to see that I was late, I was always on time for lessons. A couple of people shouted "Badass!" from the back of the room as Mrs Misen looked up to see me out of breath. I walked over to her, slightly embarrassed as more chants came from the back of the room.

"Georgia, you aren't normally late!" She too was shocked.

"I know, I had to do something." I told her the truth, I wasn't one to lie.

"And what was that?" Mrs Misen had always liked me, from the start of Year 7 right up to now, Year 10.

"I needed to walk my little brother to school, I'm sorry I'm so late." I apologized.

"OK everyone, go to period 1, please!" She announced to the class. "Not you, George." That was the first time she addressed me by the name I liked. I turned back around. "I've noticed you have been a little unhappy lately, and Eve has told me that you've been having a few problems at home." I normally hated confiding in teachers, but Mrs. Misen was different, she was a strict teacher when she needed to be, yet, right now, she seemed like the perfect person I needed to talk to...

"Yes." I didn't quite know how to start. "It's been a little hard lately..." I began.

"I understand." She saved me from stuttering. "I'm sure it will be fine." That was what everyone was saying, and it started to feel like just a saying; but there was a tone in her voice the same as Will, and Hal's, that made me believe every word she said. "I won't mark you down as late, but I should write a note in your journal for your teacher in period 1 to see, so she may excuse you as well." She gave me a smile. The wrinkles around her eyes comforted me for some reason, and I felt a little better.

When I got home, Hal was there as usual. "Thanks for walking me to school today." He said. And I knew he meant it.

"No problem." I smiled the best smile I could. "Do you want a takeaway for dinner?" I asked, suddenly coming up with the fabulous idea.

"Yeah!" He exclaimed with joy. And I felt proud for making him that little bit happier.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 5: Home Again**

Me and Hal ate at McDonalds. It felt good to get out of the house and just go somewhere, wherever we wanted. After we'd finished, we took the bus back to Queenshall and stopped off at Tesco express to get something for Dad to eat. We got some chicken pasta for him. It was 5 now, we had eaten early so that we could get home and see Dad... Just for that day, he had been allowed to get home early, for 6 o'clock.

When we walked home, we put Dad's pasta in the fridge and sat down to watch TV. Of course there was nothing good on, so we out on an episode of Friends whilst waiting for Dad to get home. We were happy, laughing along at Friends, having a good time. Until we realised that we'd gotten through 4 episodes, and Dad still wasn't home. It was now half seven, the time had flown by; a single thought repeatedly flashed through my mind '_Dad should've been home at 6, an hour and a half ago...'_, it wouldn't go away, and I decided the best thing to do was to act like nothing was wrong, for both my sake and Hal's, and watch some more Friends...

Dad finally returned at nine. Three hours late. As he came through the door, I tried not to be mad that he didn't even call to relieve our worries.

I tried to sound normal, "Weren't you supposed to be home at six?" That sounded OK...I think.

"Yeah, but something came up at work." It bothered me that he didn't care to explain. He didn't care about explaining _anything _anymore.

"What was it?" Again, trying to sound casual.

"Nothing." He replied looking in the fridge.

"Dad?" I tried another method...

"Yeah?" Calling his name got his attention enough to pull his head away from inside the fridge.

"Why don't you talk to Hal anymore?" I could tell that my voice sounded a little edgy. On the edge of a temper.

"What are you talking about, George? I talk to him all the time..." Even he could hear how stupid that sounded.

"No, no you don't. And both me and him are worried." I tried to calm myself and turn my voice to concern. It worked.

"What on earth are you worried about?" He asked, his face puzzled.

"You." I replied plainly.

He slammed the fridge doors shut and walked upstairs, not saying a word. At that moment, Hal walked into the kitchen. "Do you want me to rewind the start for you? You missed it..." He said, his innocent, blue-green eyes staring up at me.

"No." I said quietly. "No it's ok. I'm coming through now." I knew he had heard everything, and I was trying to reassure him that it was fine.

It wasn't of course.

"Ok." His voice was tired. He walked slowly back into the lounge, and I followed, desolate.

Shortly after I had sent Hal to bed, there was a loud knock at the door. I glanced at the clock, it was nine forty-five, _who on earth is knocking at this time? _I thought to myself. I opened the door to see a wide awake, grinning woman. And I recognised her fake face the moment I took even a glimpse at it.

"Hello, Georgia!" She spoke as if it was a sunny new day.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, coldly.

"I'm here to talk to you actually!" She had that over friendly, enthusiastic tone to her voice, _again._

"Oh... Yippee!" I said it as sarcastically as I could manage whilst yawning.

"Now, your father is going on a business trip, very soon, and I thought you should know about it first, so you can tell him!" She sounded too excited about this, even for _her._

"A business trip...Why?" I asked, closing my eyes and sighing. I wanted to SLEEP, not talk to the woman that was ruining my Dad's life!

"Because I said so, THAT'S WHY!" She boomed at me. I immediately thought of Hal, sleeping, upstairs.

"Will you keep your high pitched, squeaky, annoying, STUPID voice DOWN!" And I slammed the door in her face.

The next day, I woke up at five, and though I tried and tried to go back to sleep, I couldn't; so I decided to get up super-early instead. Thoughts rushed through my over-crowded head as I slumped down the stairs, still in my pyjamas. Or what I call pyjamas: An old T-Shirt and some comfy shorts.

I switched on the TV, and started flicking through the channels... CBeebies, Jeremy Kyle, Jeremy Kyle, CBeebies, Jeremy Kyle... _Oh dear, _I sighed.

I must have fallen asleep watching Dora the Explorer because I awoke when Hal came downstairs and called to me that I was going to be late for school. Great.

Despite the fact that I was tired, annoyed and completely out of it, the day went quite quickly and I walked home with Eve, Ellenor and Shian; hoping that when I got home, Hal would be there to cheer me up. Instead, Linda was there, my Dad's idiot Boss.

"Hi George, Linda's here to talk about some stuff going on in work." Dad's voice was... lifted...happy, almost like he was glad she was there. "I also thought it would be a good idea if you got to know Linda." She gave me a wide smile as he said this and her face turned to me.

"Oh, um, yeah, OK." I said, my eyes down, confused. "But I've got homework, so, not for long." I quickly decided that maybe it was worth a try. Maybe she wasn't the complete snob I had judged her to be when I met her. Dad's sudden burst of happiness influenced this on me.

"We never truly introduced ourselves, George." She said, with a normal voice this time, not talking to me as if I was a little child. "I hope to get to know you better."

"Yeah. That'd be good." I said, giving her a smile, the first she'd gotten from me.

She stayed an _age_. But, I wasn't to bothered by this, since Dad seemed to be happier, and he was actually talking. When she left, I watched out of my window as my Dad walked Linda to her car... I heard the muffled voices say something or other, and then 'See you tomorrow.' I was truly, utterly shocked when he gave her a light kiss on the cheek. Now I knew what she was up to. Yeah, OK, she hadn't been so bad today, but very slowly- and I was sure of it- she was worming her way into our family... sticking her snobby nose into other people's business.

I thought maybe that she wanted to actually start over, and be nicer to my Dad, _and_ me. But I could tell it was all fake, she just wanted to mess with my dad. Maybe I was overreacting, but then again, maybe I wasn't... What if she really did want to steal him; get him caught up in things that he didn't need to be stuck in.

I started to scare myself, but my thoughts were soon interrupted as there was a knock at the door. I opened it before Hal could come speeding out of the front lounge. I was shocked.

"WILL!" Hal screamed, running up to him, Will dropping his bags to embrace the big hug that Hal gave him. I, however, stood speechless at the doorway, trying to find any words that I could possibly manage to blurt out of my mouth.

"W, Will!" I just about got them out.

He put down Hal and gave me a look that said "You're managing.", and smiled. I ran up to him, giving him a hug exactly the same as Hal's. Still overwhelmed that he was home so soon.

I went down to Tesco's after Dad had said Hi to Will and gotten over his shock as well. It was nearly half six, and everyone was hungry enough for some chicken goujons sandwiched in Tiger bread. After we had all finished, I started talking to Will, asking him about how his flying was going. I soon realised that dad wasn't talking again. He had been fine when _Linda_ was here, so why wasn't he now?

At 9 o'clock, me and Will decided Hal should get to bed, and we followed ten minutes later, checking in on him. I talked to Will for a bit longer.

"Dad's boss came over today, and she acted normal with me, so did he, well, actually, he was acting a bit _too_ normal." I confided.

"George, are you one hundred percent, _completely_ sure, that you're not just overreacting?" He asked, wondering afterwards whether he should have...

"Yes. One hundred and _ten_ percent!" I added on.

"Okay then, I believe you." He knew I wouldn't lie, and he trusted me... one hundred and _ten_ percent.


	6. Chapter 6

**A Story to Remember - **

**Chapter 6: Flightless Bird**

I was a bird that couldn't fly, stapled to the ground like a tree, desperate to get away. Will was back, at least, and that helped... a lot. But although he tried to talk to Dad, none of us could get through to him, and he was spending even more time with his Boss, Linda.

Me and Will encouraged Hal to carry on as normal by acting as normal as possible towards him, not pretending that nothing was going on, but just trying to sidetrack him from everything happening.

I was angry at Dad. It was just as if he had forgotten us, that we were never there, and he had started a new life, with _Linda_. He talked to her, but not to us. He went out with her, leaving us alone. He was _nice_ to her, but he didn't even notice us anymore... Despite this though, I was doing better, coping with it a lot better than I had at first. I think I may have overreacted before, but only because Mum had called and reminded me that she probably wanted nothing to do with me anymore, or Hal, or Will.

I had been thinking for the last two days, after Will got here. Thinking a lot. And, I came to the conclusion that maybe it _was_ for the best that Mum went away. If she couldn't cope anyways, there was no point pretending, I'd rather she didn't lie in fact. But what _did_ puzzle me, was that thing she talked about on the phone... something about how she couldn't carry on this way. But what did that mean? What _way_?

As I persevered at school, I mostly managed to concentrate on the work. In some ways, it dragged my mind away from all the confusion, and helped me find a better thing to do with my day than sit around wondering what went wrong.

"Are you OK, George?" Shian asked. She seemed somewhat concerned for me. I was scribbling down ideas for my new Art project on a piece of paper; very fast.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I meant it this time. "Just, really into this, haha." I was doing good, and I managed a small laugh at the end.

"OK." She replied, smiling. Eve _must_ have told her _something._

The rest of the day passed quickly, and I was home before I knew it. Hal was there, as well as Will, he had walked him home again, as always. I smiled admiringly as I watched them laughing, Will blowing dishwater bubbles in Hal's face, and Hal struggling to get back at him as Will washed the dishes. I laughed and they both turned their heads to see me putting my bag on the kitchen counter and taking off my blazer.

"Hey." Will said, still laughing.

"Hey. Having fun?" I raised my eyebrows at Hal.

"Yeah!" He replied, laughing as well. And I couldn't help it, I just _had_ to join in! I scooped up a load of fairy-liquid bubbles and blew them straight in Hal's face, and then again in Will's. We all laughed and honestly, that was the most fun I'd had over the last two weeks.

I was reminded later of the problems our family still faced, and I had no other choice but to think of ways to make Dad see what he was doing to us. He returned home at 7 o'clock. Early, _very_ early; but the reason was obvious...he was with Linda.

It was as if he had forgotten all his sense, left it behind as soon as he left for work every day. He was always with her now. There was hardly a chance to catch him by himself when he got home from work, even if it was late. She almost intimidated me, and I thought I might be getting jealous that she was always with our dad and we weren't.

Will didn't have to go back for another TWO weeks this time, though I was still dreading saying goodbye all over again. It was getting just too much; both me and Hal loved him too much to let him go over and over this many times. Sure, nobody said it was easy, but nobody said it would be this hard, either.

Linda finally left, and it was my final chance to get in and grab Dad before he went upstairs to bed.

"Dad!" I called, before he could reach the bottom step.

"Uh-uh?" He replied, his voice broken and tired from talking to Linda all evening. I looked at my watch, it was eleven.

"I wanted to talk to you." I said, my voice also tired and weary.

"Um, maybe tomorrow, it's late and I've got an early start tomorrow." He said, not even looking at me.

"Of course." I mumbled. _He's never got time for me anymore. He can't even use my name._ I thought.

"What?" He snapped. "Hey! Look at me!" I was shocked as I lifted my eyes from fiddling with the bottom of my Muse T-Shirt. His face was mad, almost red with anger. He continued his rampage of fury, "I've had a hard enough day as it is!" He shouted at the top of his voice, and Will and Hal peeped their heads round the edge of the lounge door. Will was about to say something when I interrupted...

"Yeah, 'cause talking to _Linda_ is _SUPER_ hard! Isn't it?" I blurted, speaking my thoughts, "You just don't get it do you! _Every _time I try to talk to you, you just ignore me! You don't care anymore, you only care about your stupid boss! It's IN_FUR_IATING!" My emotions came pouring out as Dad's blank stare gazed into the space where my angered voice was coming from.

He just stared forward, too shocked to follow my furious face as I stormed out the door, slamming it shut.

I walked back home the following morning. It was Saturday, so I didn't have to worry about school. I had stayed at my very best friend Sarah's house last night, not wanting to go back to the house where I knew Dad would be, ready to fire at me with all he had left. In a way, I felt better for letting it all out; it was like a heavy burden of all mine, Will's and Hal's emotions had been lifted off my shoulders, leaving it easier for me to move, to go where I wanted.

Sarah opened the door, thoroughly surprised to see me standing in the doorway, dripping wet from the pouring rain outside. She gave me a warm towel and her Mum made hot chocolate. These thoughts from last night streamed through my mind as I walked the half-a-mile distance back to my house.

Dad wasn't there, thank god. I didn't want to have to have another argument at eight in the morning on a Saturday. Hal and Will were still in bed, well there was no sign of them downstairs at least... so I was quiet as I tiptoed throughout the house, getting some juice, a slice of bread, taking my shoes off and drooping down to the sofa, leaving the juice and bread on the table so I could lie down.

I fell asleep, and the only consequence that came with this was the nightmares that made their way through my tired brain, using bad memories and horrible experiences to fill my nap with the worst.

I finally woke again when something nudged my arm, and I opened my sleepy eyes to see Will sat beside me on the sofa, giving me a warm smile, glad that I was back. I didn't say anything, just closed my eyes and fell back into a deep sleep, this time though, my head was filled with _good_ dreams...


	7. Chapter 7

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 7: Soaring**

Monday morning. Ugh.

Back to school for the next week, great. Well, actually, we had Friday off as a start to the half term hols... which gave us time off for Halloween. I finally arrived at school, out of breath after half running my way there. I entered the form-room and Shian greeted me casually. 'Hi.'

I had Art next, with Shian, Ellenor and Carley. That was good, it gave me a chance to get away from all the business and troubles and just care for nothing whilst I doodled away at my work, making all sorts of shapes and drawings from the pears project Miss had assigned us to.

"Catherine, you should be an Artist!" Ellenor exclaimed as she peeped over from the seat next to me to observe my work. I hated it when people said stuff like that... it gave a person no other choice but to reply: '"No... You should! You're way better than me!"' But I had my ways...

"Thanks Ellenor, but I'm really not that good." I replied, believing it. I really didn't think I was so good. What was so special about the tiny little flowers and blooms that I covered the many pages of my Art book with?

Art finally finished as Miss called out the levels for our 'Pears Project'. "Emily Sunders: Level 4b... Charlie Young: Level 6b... Thomas Kyle: Level 5a, Georgia Summers: Level 7b..." And that was my cue to leave...

Lunch came quicker than I expected, and me, Shian, Eve, Ellenor and Carley headed to Mrs Turns classroom. We always went there for lunch, she was nice and let us eat there. I didn't bother with lunch today, I wasn't hungry enough to eat.

"George, can you help with my Maths homework?" Shian pleaded as she sat frustrated hunched over her maths book. I had nothing better to do, and helping people always put me in a good mood.

"Yeah, sure. But I'll warn you now... I'm absolutely crap at Maths..." I shook my head as I enthusiastically jumped off the table I was sat on, and slumped on the chair in front to sit beside her.

"I don't care... I need help!" She laughed, and I chuckled as I slid her book in front of me.

The rest of the school day passed undesirably slow and when we were finally set free, me and Shian walked to the tree next to the Fairyground where we always met Eve and Ellenor.

"Well...Maths was _exceedingly_ boring today." I sighed.

"I know." She groaned. "Want a Tic-Tac?" And she offered me one of the small pellets as we walked along the pavement to the tree.

"Why not!"I held out my hand to catch the little orange oval.

We walked home, tired after the long, crazy day that bustled with too much work for my small, fragile brain.

When I returned, Hal was extraordinarily happy as he hopped around the kitchen, nearly knocking a glass off the bench.

A letter fell to the floor before I could catch it. "Woah..." I tried to steady him before he could do any serious damage, "what's up with you?" I asked. I could feel my face wrinkling up into a puzzled expression.

"Ask Will!" He managed to escape from the grip of my hands as he blurted out these last words with the excitement of a six year-old who just found out they were going to Disney-Land.

I didn't bother to say anything else, I was confused by his sudden might of joy. "Will?" I called out as I wandered into the lounge, dropping my bags on the kitchen floor.

"Hey, George!" He replied, quite normally, considering the state Hal was in...

"Hal says you have some news for me?" I questioned, folding my arms.

"Yeah, work called..." He left it hanging for a moment, the seconds ticking by like hours as I waited for him to finish, "they're giving me another two weeks here!" I stood shocked as he leaped towards me, giving me a hug. I was so surprised it took a while to process what he just said. But as my slow brain finally caught up, I threw my arms around him.

I got to keep my brother for another two weeks. Best news of the year.

It wasn't a massive surprise to see Linda walk through the front door, Dad holding it open for her politely. It was almost as if he was in an unforgettable trance, everything she required... he got it for her.

"Hey Dad, Hi Linda." I said, without any warmth. I was too busy cooking dinner to bother spending time greeting them with the friendliness neither of them really deserved.

"Hey, George." Dad replied quickly, his eyes still fixed on Linda as she stood silently by the kitchen counter, her hands folded over the purse clutched in her hands. They wandered into the front lounge before I could tell them what was for tea. I presumed Linda was staying to eat, whether it was my cooking or not.

It was strange to see Dad's sudden change of expression as Linda stepped out of the door. Just as it was about to shut, through the small crack I managed to see his gaze, filled to the brim with despair. And it puzzled me, he had changed so much since the time he met his boss... First he was frustrated, she was taking his time away from him. Now he was obsessive with her, like he was trying to constantly impress her, and he liked it. But in that slight moment, when I saw his saddened face slowly disappear as he closed the door, it gave me hope...hope that my Dad was still in there, the man that used to come home, hug me, and talk to me for just forever.

Hal went to bed at nine, finally too tired from his excitement earlier, to stay up any longer. Me and Will stayed down for another hour, just talking. We decided before we went to bed that over the next two weeks, we would do everything and anything we wanted to whilst he was here... just in case we didn't get the chance for a while.

That night tears came to my eyes, and though I struggled more than ever to keep them there, a few droplets managed to fall and slide down my cheeks.

There wasn't any point in falling into the abyss of darkness that I felt was about to consume me, not now, not when I had tried so hard to keep from doing exactly that.

The tears rang with both happiness and depression. Happiness that my brother would stay for two weeks longer; although it wouldn't seem long to someone who didn't have someone overseas, an unimaginable distance away... it would for someone who did. And then the sadness that the tears were half-full with, because my Dad was being stolen away from me. Me, Hal and Will. That a woman with such horrible intentions could somehow take away his whole personality, his beautiful personality that I so much loved, and fill it with happiness that wasn't his... the happiness that was hers. It didn't make sense, yet it was happening...slowly but surely...right in front of my eyes.

Once I fell asleep, I had no dreams. No nightmares that swallowed me into a crumbled world of despair. Just blank.

I awoke at half six, and I didn't waste the spare time I had gained sleeping. I got up, got dressed for school, washed, and went downstairs to get a bowl of Bran Flakes and sit in front of the TV.

Will gave me a lift to school on his awesome motorbike. I had always loved his bike; he got it when he was seventeen and needed to get around...in England _and _America. It was a 1980 Suzuki GS1000L, I'll never forget that because I was all over it the first time he showed it to me and gave me a ride round the block.

I didn't care when people stared. I loved it, the wind flying by as if I could go anywhere I wanted. Obviously, I couldn't, I was on the way to school, after all. When he pulled up in the bus lay-by, I got off, taking my helmet from over my head and waving goodbye as he speeded away, showing off as he swerved the last corner. I gave a small laugh as he did that and then I turned around to see Shannon Ashton stood there, arms folded. The smirk on her face gave away the obvious impression that she was here to tease me and get me frustrated.

"That your brother?" She started.

"Yeah." I tried to end the conversation. Pushing through the wall of her 'friends', but they pushed back, keeping me isolated.

"Coming to school on a motorbike... trying to act all hard?" Trying to humiliate me. But she clearly didn't realise that there was no one to be humiliated in front of except her stupid little possy.

"No." I said plainly. I wasn't wasting any of the smart stuff on her. She wasn't worth it, not now. I'd save it for something that mattered.

"Oh I get it, you think your 'cool' 'cause you got a brother who flies shitty little planes?" She really was trying hard to get me angry. I wasn't giving in.

"No, I don't think I'm 'Cool'... I think I need to get to form before the bell goes. Now excuse me." They let me through this time, not bothering. I knew she would try again, but I was determined not to let her get the best of me.

When school was over, I saw Will waiting in the bus lay-by, on the inside though, so he wouldn't be in the way of the buses. I was on my path to him when Shannon interrupted me once again.

"Aw, she needs her big brother to pick her up from school because she's that fucked up." She said, turning to her little gang, queuing for them to smirk. She snorted as she laughed in my face. _Pig..._ I thought immediately. "What's the matter? Can't you speak? Are you seriously that retarded?" She snorted again. _You should be living in a barn_ I chuckled to myself as I thought this. Which seemed to egg her on.

"Listen, you can go on at me all you want tomorrow." I said before she could start again, "but right now, I'm busy." And I walked past, carrying on towards my brother. Wearing his RAF jacket and his special sunglasses. _It is pretty cool though_ I chuckled again, and he smiled.

"Something the matter with those girls?" He asked as I stepped over the seat of the Suzuki, putting on my helmet.

"Nah, just pigs." I answered. He put on his helmet and we raced off.


	8. Chapter 8

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 9: Drifting**

The thick haze that clouded my view of life surrounded me like a mist of fog, taking me away from the path I thought I would return to before too long. But it was too late, I was trapped...confused, everywhere I turned, more questions and less answers appeared. Happiness was no longer a friend of mine. It had deserted me, left me for dead in the mist; hardly anything to keep me going.

Will had to go back eventually, I knew that. But as soon as he left, a it felt like a hole had been punched in my heart, leaving such a big part of it missing that I thought I could never recover. Hal was just the same, his hope faded as Will went back to flying and Dad ignored us.

As the fog consumed me, trying hard to pull me back into darkness, I was desperate to bring back happy memories that would help me realise that life could get good again. I reminisced the joyful times over and over until soon they couldn't help me for much longer.

Will wouldn't return for another month for sure, maybe more, and I was determined to survive until then. I would fight it. Fight against the depression that Dad's decision to marry Linda conjured. In the meantime... Anything that stood a fair chance of sidetracking me from the saddening thoughts, I would give it a try. School was something. I continued to go every day and my friends helped with a lot. I had a laugh and mostly, I was happy. But as soon as I got home, Linda would be there, with or without my Dad. She wasn't actually married to him yet, so one time I thought maybe I had the permission to kick her out. I didn't.

Hal was struggling, especially with her around. So I took him away from the house as much as I could, managing to go to the park, the village, and sometimes even McDonalds. The black hole that was getting bigger every time she was around, was desperately trying to suck us in. We didn't want to be part of her fake family. She didn't want us to either, and I was afraid that she would steal Dad from us completely. She still made him work just as much as usual, if not more; from 5am till 11pm every day. Even Sunday. She was using him, wasting him, wasting his life, and he was letting her throw it away. Every time she asked him to do something... he did it. Without question. It was infuriating and I didn't understand any of it. The Dad I used to have... _We _used to have, would never just let this happen. Our Dad wouldn't let someone so beastly take our lives and ruin them. He would stand up to that person and tell them to bugger off. So why didn't he?

"Do you want to go to the village after school?" Tasha asked me as we walked to our English room 5th period.

"Yeah, I'd love to..." I replied, enthusiasm in my voice for the first time this week. "But, only if I can quickly run home and grab Hal." I looked at her, slightly cringing in case she didn't want him tagging along. I wouldn't leave him with Linda.

"Yeah, sure! That's fine." And she meant it.

"Ok, then that'd be great, Tash." I said with meaning, and we headed into our English room.

We speed-walked to my house and Tash, Shian, Eve and Ellenor waited outside whilst I rushed in and got Hal.

"Hi, George." Linda said sourly as I rushed by her, dropping my bags and calling Hal's name.

"Hi, Linda." I replied, without any feeling whatsoever.

"Bye, Linda!" Hal said, giving her a sarcastic smile as I dragged him past her, and out the front door. I couldn't help but laugh.

"OK!" I said, excited. "Let's go." It felt like too long since I had last been to the village with my friends, and it was good to finally ditch the upset and anger that covered half my heart... and just go with the flow.

We tip-toed through the door and up the stairs, not wanting to be seen or heard by either Linda or Dad. It was 5 o'clock, and we had reluctantly walked away from the village to return home. Linda was in the kitchen talking to Dad, I could hear the mumbled voices, fading as I travelled up the stairs. Hal and I had snacked in the village so neither of us were hungry enough for tea until about eight.

There was leftover pasta in the fridge so all I had to do was heat it in the microwave and voila. Dad and Linda didn't go out, they just stayed in the back lounge all evening, drinking red wine.

The evenings were getting longer, night battling day as winter came closer. Well, actually, it felt like winter already... Autumn was gone. The once beautiful leaves of all sorts of colours, red, brown, golden, orange, were now drained of their sweet perfection, falling; leaving trees bare, standing dull and colourless in the icy cold breezy air.

I hoped and prayed things wouldn't get worse, but even though I thought I could stand strong and get through the way he treated me... Dad just wouldn't communicate.

I continuously tried to make conversation, but everything he said felt fake, like it wasn't really coming from his lips, but from someone else's. Every now and then I would make an obvious act of confusion around him, the confusion that circled me into sleep night after night.

But nothing.

It made me dizzy to consider the fact that maybe the Dad I loved was gone, that he had faded away, drowned in the stormy waters of the world we lived in, unable to ever break the surface of the ice that sealed him into the never-ending abyss.

No. I would keep on trying. Even if it meant that I had to sacrifice more than I'd want to. I had let Mum go. That wasn't going to happen again.

Monday 5th November. Bonfire Night.

Though I didn't feel awake enough to go, I turned up at the scout bonfire that was held every year at Woodford Recreation, or 'Woody Rec' as most people called it.

"It's way too cold to be stood around here." I told Shian, my arms folded. "We're not even close to the fire." I complained, my toes were freezing even though I had stuffed on two pairs of socks and thick wellington boots.

"I know, let's try and get closer. EVE!..." She called to the others telling them that we were going to get closer.

There was a big crowd of people in front of us, but we were determined to get to the warm atmosphere of the big bonfire, so we managed to push our way through, saying "Sorry!" more times than necessary to the people whom we waded past. We eventually came to the opening of the mass of scarves, boots and hats, and stood just metres away from the fire now. My body felt no warmer, but there was a different sensation that the fire's colour and flares of light gave me, that made me feel warmer though my toes and fingers still froze... My eyes were glued to the sight of the flames in front of me, not blinking, until Shian called my name and they flickered across to her...

"George. George!" She shouted until she finally caught my attention, "The fireworks have started!" I knew she was surprised I hadn't noticed.

I didn't say anything, just followed her through the crowd once more as we struggled to see the fireworks. In the end, we found them, the rockets exploding, making sparkling colours of red, green and blue as the crowd awed at the sight.

When I got home, I flung my Wellies to the floor, taking off my thick rain coat and slumping against the hot radiator in the hall.

"Was it good?" Hal asked as he stepped through the kitchen door, happy to find someone to talk about something even remotely interesting with.

"Yeah, it was... The fireworks were amazing!" I exaggerated, glad to see his face light up with delight.

"I saw some from my bedroom window!" He continued the subject, and his eyes glistened with amazement. "I saw lots of rockets that people set off from their gardens, but my favourite was one that blew up gold and when all the stuff came down, it turned red!" It really was good to see him so involved in something, so excited.

I saw him smile.

Not the fake smile he put on when he was with Linda. The smile he used to give me, and Hal, and Will whenever we told him something that we were proud of, or when we rambled on about something we were interested in. The smile that made his face glow, and his eyes bright and warm.

Linda wasn't there, she was out, away from him for once. Me and Hal were in the lounge, on speakerphone to Will whilst he wasn't flying or in theory. We laughed and talked and he told us how he did a flyby past the tower and got in trouble. He'd got that off TopGun for sure. It was then that Dad peeped round the corner, his eyes closed, smiling. Hal didn't notice, and I don't think Dad knew I had, but it was a definite smile...one I hadn't seen in a long


	9. Chapter 9

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 9: Drifting**

The thick haze that clouded my view of life surrounded me like a mist of fog, taking me away from the path I thought I would return to before too long. But it was too late, I was trapped...confused, everywhere I turned, more questions and less answers appeared. Happiness was no longer a friend of mine. It had deserted me, left me for dead in the mist; hardly anything to keep me going.

Will had to go back eventually, I knew that. But as soon as he left, a it felt like a hole had been punched in my heart, leaving such a big part of it missing that I thought I could never recover. Hal was just the same, his hope faded as Will went back to flying and Dad ignored us.

As the fog consumed me, trying hard to pull me back into darkness, I was desperate to bring back happy memories that would help me realise that life could get good again. I reminisced the joyful times over and over until soon they couldn't help me for much longer.

Will wouldn't return for another month for sure, maybe more, and I was determined to survive until then. I would fight it. Fight against the depression that Dad's decision to marry Linda conjured. In the meantime... Anything that stood a fair chance of sidetracking me from the saddening thoughts, I would give it a try. School was something. I continued to go every day and my friends helped with a lot. I had a laugh and mostly, I was happy. But as soon as I got home, Linda would be there, with or without my Dad. She wasn't actually married to him yet, so one time I thought maybe I had the permission to kick her out. I didn't.

Hal was struggling, especially with her around. So I took him away from the house as much as I could, managing to go to the park, the village, and sometimes even McDonalds. The black hole that was getting bigger every time she was around, was desperately trying to suck us in. We didn't want to be part of her fake family. She didn't want us to either, and I was afraid that she would steal Dad from us completely. She still made him work just as much as usual, if not more; from 5am till 11pm every day. Even Sunday. She was using him, wasting him, wasting his life, and he was letting her throw it away. Every time she asked him to do something... he did it. Without question. It was infuriating and I didn't understand any of it. The Dad I used to have... _We _used to have, would never just let this happen. Our Dad wouldn't let someone so beastly take our lives and ruin them. He would stand up to that person and tell them to bugger off. So why didn't he?

"Do you want to go to the village after school?" Tasha asked me as we walked to our English room 5th period.

"Yeah, I'd love to..." I replied, enthusiasm in my voice for the first time this week. "But, only if I can quickly run home and grab Hal." I looked at her, slightly cringing in case she didn't want him tagging along. I wouldn't leave him with Linda.

"Yeah, sure! That's fine." And she meant it.

"Ok, then that'd be great, Tash." I said with meaning, and we headed into our English room.

We speed-walked to my house and Tash, Shian, Eve and Ellenor waited outside whilst I rushed in and got Hal.

"Hi, George." Linda said sourly as I rushed by her, dropping my bags and calling Hal's name.

"Hi, Linda." I replied, without any feeling whatsoever.

"Bye, Linda!" Hal said, giving her a sarcastic smile as I dragged him past her, and out the front door. I couldn't help but laugh.

"OK!" I said, excited. "Let's go." It felt like too long since I had last been to the village with my friends, and it was good to finally ditch the upset and anger that covered half my heart... and just go with the flow.

We tip-toed through the door and up the stairs, not wanting to be seen or heard by either Linda or Dad. It was 5 o'clock, and we had reluctantly walked away from the village to return home. Linda was in the kitchen talking to Dad, I could hear the mumbled voices, fading as I travelled up the stairs. Hal and I had snacked in the village so neither of us were hungry enough for tea until about eight.

There was leftover pasta in the fridge so all I had to do was heat it in the microwave and voila. Dad and Linda didn't go out, they just stayed in the back lounge all evening, drinking red wine.

The evenings were getting longer, night battling day as winter came closer. Well, actually, it felt like winter already... Autumn was gone. The once beautiful leaves of all sorts of colours, red, brown, golden, orange, were now drained of their sweet perfection, falling; leaving trees bare, standing dull and colourless in the icy cold breezy air.

I hoped and prayed things wouldn't get worse, but even though I thought I could stand strong and get through the way he treated me... Dad just wouldn't communicate.

I continuously tried to make conversation, but everything he said felt fake, like it wasn't really coming from his lips, but from someone else's. Every now and then I would make an obvious act of confusion around him, the confusion that circled me into sleep night after night.

But nothing.

It made me dizzy to consider the fact that maybe the Dad I loved was gone, that he had faded away, drowned in the stormy waters of the world we lived in, unable to ever break the surface of the ice that sealed him into the never-ending abyss.

No. I would keep on trying. Even if it meant that I had to sacrifice more than I'd want to. I had let Mum go. That wasn't going to happen again.

Monday 5th November. Bonfire Night.

Though I didn't feel awake enough to go, I turned up at the scout bonfire that was held every year at Woodford Recreation, or 'Woody Rec' as most people called it.

"It's way too cold to be stood around here." I told Shian, my arms folded. "We're not even close to the fire." I complained, my toes were freezing even though I had stuffed on two pairs of socks and thick wellington boots.

"I know, let's try and get closer. EVE!..." She called to the others telling them that we were going to get closer.

There was a big crowd of people in front of us, but we were determined to get to the warm atmosphere of the big bonfire, so we managed to push our way through, saying "Sorry!" more times than necessary to the people whom we waded past. We eventually came to the opening of the mass of scarves, boots and hats, and stood just metres away from the fire now. My body felt no warmer, but there was a different sensation that the fire's colour and flares of light gave me, that made me feel warmer though my toes and fingers still froze... My eyes were glued to the sight of the flames in front of me, not blinking, until Shian called my name and they flickered across to her...

"George. George!" She shouted until she finally caught my attention, "The fireworks have started!" I knew she was surprised I hadn't noticed.

I didn't say anything, just followed her through the crowd once more as we struggled to see the fireworks. In the end, we found them, the rockets exploding, making sparkling colours of red, green and blue as the crowd awed at the sight.

When I got home, I flung my Wellies to the floor, taking off my thick rain coat and slumping against the hot radiator in the hall.

"Was it good?" Hal asked as he stepped through the kitchen door, happy to find someone to talk about something even remotely interesting with.

"Yeah, it was... The fireworks were amazing!" I exaggerated, glad to see his face light up with delight.

"I saw some from my bedroom window!" He continued the subject, and his eyes glistened with amazement. "I saw lots of rockets that people set off from their gardens, but my favourite was one that blew up gold and when all the stuff came down, it turned red!" It really was good to see him so involved in something, so excited.

I saw him smile.

Not the fake smile he put on when he was with Linda. The smile he used to give me, and Hal, and Will whenever we told him something that we were proud of, or when we rambled on about something we were interested in. The smile that made his face glow, and his eyes bright and warm.

Linda wasn't there, she was out, away from him for once. Me and Hal were in the lounge, on speakerphone to Will whilst he wasn't flying or in theory. We laughed and talked and he told us how he did a flyby past the tower and got in trouble. He'd got that off TopGun for sure. It was then that Dad peeped round the corner, his eyes closed, smiling. Hal didn't notice, and I don't think Dad knew I had, but it was a definite smile...one I hadn't seen in a long


	10. Chapter 10

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 10: Until the Fun Ends**

It may be sad but who really gives one? If 'I Wanna dance with Somebody' comes on the radio, I can't help but get up and have fun.

To be honest...it's the one bit of fun I've had all week. I mean, it's the fourteenth of November and since no one feels like going out in the cold and wet English weather, I have nothing else to do but Homework and Cleaning. I've watched so much TV I'm surprised my eyes haven't shaped square, and I can't seem to get interested in any books unless they get me engrossed to the point where I can't put it down... There aren't much, and most of the time I feel myself _wanting_ to put the book down.

The one smile I got from Dad seems like the last. Nothing has changed. Linda comes round even more often, though I hardly think it possible because she basically _lives _here now.

Dad returned home at 2 o'clock in the morning one night. I was wide awake in bed when I heard the front door open and close, his keys drop on the kitchen counter. I couldn't seem to make my way round it... she wanted to marry him, and _apparently _he wanted to marry her too, yet she kept him working his butt off every day, until he couldn't physically do anything more.

Linda didn't talk to me unless it was a quick 'Hi.' and I could hear her in the kitchen most days lecturing my Dad about me; I often heard words like 'Irresponsible.' and stupid stuff like 'she needs to leave.' She was trying to entice him into the idea of kicking me out of a house that I had lived in all my life. That plan wouldn't succeed. Even if she _did_ get him to, I wouldn't budge, I wouldn't leave Hal to suffer with that intolerable woman for long.

15th November.

The words rang in my ears long after the argument had finished. Like a continuous echo, that wouldn't ever leave me be.

The tears that I had for so long tried to hold back stung my eyes like a bright light shining directly at me, surfacing all the emotion and torturing my vision. I couldn't manage to speak, even if I finally did, I would have to choke the words out.

"You're a fucking little brat! Your Dad wants rid of you and so do I... you have nothing, NOTHING else! Everybody hates you, and you know why? Because you make everybody's life _MISERABLE_!"

She had screamed at me, grabbing my hair and forcing my head against the cupboard door I leant against. I was in too much of a state to react, to do anything. My cheeks were red with the tracks of tears, and my left temple had glass in it from her wine glass.

"Nobody _wants you_." She had continued. "You're worthless."

My Dad couldn't say anything. He was unconscious.

My head hurt from the amount of times she had grabbed it and forced it about. My hands ached and struggled to move from trying to grab onto the kitchen surface and drag myself up. My heart hurt, from seeing my family fall to pieces because of one ignorant, disgusting person.

The rest of the evening was all a blur. All I remember is that she eventually left, leaving my Dad sprawled across the floor, a deep cut in his head. Me, leant against the cupboard, my head bleeding as well. And Hal... I didn't know what happened to Hal.

I finally woke to find everything the same. The same as it had been left. As if we could only continue living under Linda's supervision. As if we couldn't move until she returned. If that was the case, I broke the rules.

Aching from the deep pain in my hands and my head, I struggled to haul myself up using the kitchen surface. I faced the wall for a second, trying hard to think. I turned round, supporting my weight on the surface still, to see my Dad still unconscious. Painfully, I stumbled over and slowly knelt beside him. My heart throbbed with the hurt of seeing him like this, lost and not able to be in control of his own life. His head was stained with the blood that ran the night before, and the cut needed tending to by a doctor.

Hal came through into the kitchen then, his hair scruffy and his eyes with dark purple bags under them. If he had slept, it hadn't been for long.

"George." He whimpered quietly, almost in a whisper. His lip quivering, like he was about to break down in tears.

My eyes filled with the tears that I knew so well now, and I couldn't help them from running down my cheeks. He ran weakly to my side, and crashed to his knees to hug me. I held him tightly, hoping that it would get better, though I tidal wave of doubt swept through my mind, telling me loud and clear that things wouldn't solve themselves so quickly.

When Dad awoke, I was surprised that he seemed to remember everything up to the point where a glass had been smashed against his head. Linda's glass. My memory had been blurred until he recounted his, speaking aloud. I saw things much more vividly now; the pieces of broken glass scattering everywhere across the floor, her words tumbling around my mind. It annoyed me, that I believed everything she had said, that during that evening, the insults that she had so viciously thrown at me, actually mattered. It took a moment to realise why. I had thought that low of myself before, I thought I was all alone, that Dad wasn't coming back. Even though I had always shaped my mind to think '_I'll get through this...'_, subconsciously, I perceived it to be my fault. I thought that those things were true at one point. Life had driven me that far.

I suddenly recognised how selfish I was. _There are people WAY worse off than you!_ I cursed myself for being so stupid. Linda could be dealt with. Easy. Or so I thought.

Me and Dad didn't eat all day. I made a quick peanut-butter sandwich for Hal, but as I expected, he wouldn't touch it. In the evening, the only words that were spoken were "You should see a doctor about that cut." and, "It doesn't matter."

The hours passed by as I lay in bed, and I decided I was so desolate I had to think of something even remotely funny if I wasn't going to have a _completely_ depressing life. My _razor-sharp _plan didn't work out. Once more, the nightmares came, seeking the worst parts of last night and turning them into ravenous killers.

When I awoke in the morning, it was eight am. As I stared at the clock on my bedside table, I struggled to find the reason for why I felt so puzzled. The pieces _slowly_ came together as my brain _slowly_ started to function.

Clock...

Alarm?

...

SCHOOL!

I threw my covers back and jumped out of bed, my left foot twisting and landing on something sharp... glass. Maybe it fell out of the clothes I was still wearing from the night before last night. That didn't matter, I was late. My brain stopped for a moment as I stopped to think about my priorities... was I crazy? Never mind...

I brushed my teeth, surprised to find my teeth still there after viciously brushing them so fast, splashed my face with water, and ran downstairs. Hal was there, smart and ready for school. Dad was there too, smart and ready for work. But, it obviously wasn't picture perfect since they both still felt tired and depressed...

'_Wait...'_ I thought, _'There's something else...' _I looked for the answer to my own question, worrying about the time every millisecond. "Uniform!" I blurted out as the word finally came to mind. Dad and Hal stared at me with deep worry.

"Forget something?" Dad mumbled as I rushed through the kitchen door. I stopped in my tracks. He sounded much more like his old self. I smiled... And then realised the time once more.

I was running across the landing when I reminded myself... "God DAMNIT!" I shouted. And headed back downstairs...

It was non-uniform day.

When I reached my form-room, I was literally buzzing with happiness. The whole way there, I had been thinking about my Dad this morning... How was it possible that just two little words could _completely _change my mood?

I sat down next to Shian, dumping my bag on the floor next to our desk and looking happy.

"You look... happy." She said, sounding unsure. "How was your weekend?"

"Crap!" I replied enthusiastically.

"Ok..." She had a perfectly good reason to be utterly confused right now. "Well, I hate to bust your mood and everything, but..." She cringed, "you've got blood all over your T-Shirt..." Her cringe continued.

"Oh Shi.." Miss Misen's loud voice telling us to be quiet interrupted me. I continued to look at my shirt as she rambled on about the non-uniform day. Shian obviously found it funny that I would have to walk around school for all of Friday with a blood-stained light-blue T-Shirt. I had a jacket, but, _unfortunately_ it didn't happen to have anything fasten it up. What made it even worse was that there was still an open cut near my temple, and I had absolutely _massive_ blue-purple bags under my eyes from lack of sleep and all the nightmares.

However, despite these downs on my Friday, I would still try and have a good school-day; _even_ if everybody stared.

"Going to explain why you've got blood all over your T-Shirt?" Tasha's questions didn't exactly help with the 'Good Day Plan'...

"Late Halloween costume..." I joked, hoping just a tad that she would take it seriously.

She laughed, "OK then."


	11. Chapter 11

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 11: Breakable**

School passed slowly that Friday, and the only lessons that really caught my attention were Art and Music. Music was easy. I play the keyboard and the piano, diploma level, so it sort of gives me a head-start. The only problem with Music is that the 12 Bar Blues can get _really_ boring.

I walked home with Eve, Ellenor and Shian as usual, talking and laughing at things even if they weren't funny. I think I owed it to them in some way, (not the laughing at bad jokes) I hadn't acted normal lately, I knew that. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they thought I was a completely different person. But Friday was a happier day than most, and even though he'd only said two words to me that morning, it felt like I was getting my Dad back.

"So wait, she said what?" Ellenor interrupted my thoughts as she spoke loudly, laughing at eve.

"Ellenor! I'm not repeating it over and over again!" Eve replied, exasperated.

"Oh fine then, it doesn't matter." Ellenor gave in. "What happened to your top, George?" She said, shooting a raised-eyebrow look at me. That caught my attention.

"Oh, uh..." If I told them everything about the other night, it would ruin a perfectly good Friday. "Just a little accident." I said, nodding to confirm it even to myself.

"This morning?" She questioned, casually.

"No, the other night." I blurted, not thinking. Now I knew I'd really set her off.

"What happened?" She continued to interrogate as I had expected. I was caught off guard. Not enough time to think about what I was saying.

Eve cut in before I could say something stupid. "I'm sure George doesn't want to be answering all your strange questions Ellenor." Thankyou Eve.

I didn't say much for the rest of the walk home, just nodded and laughed. I was too afraid I'd give something away, say something in too happy or too depressed a mood.

As soon as I stepped through the door, I dumped my bag on the floor and headed through to the lounge. Hal was there, and he seemed surprisingly happy too.

I glared at the TV. "Do we really have to watch this?" I said, putting on a pouty voice.

"Fine then." He said laughing, and turned over the channel. I didn't even know what that other program was; it just looked stupid.

The news came onto the next channel, and I slouched onto the sofa, crossing my legs and staring at the TV with no interest whatsoever. I don't think Hal was paying any attention either.

"Police are investigating the situation, but for now, Charlotte Green's family are just hoping for the best." The newsreader said, finishing one story, and ready to go on to another. "Meanwhile, American forces prepared for an attack on the west coast, near Los Angeles, when unknown air forces from the west of the pacific ocean flew dangerously close." The words 'pacific' and 'ocean' alarmed my ears. _That's where Will is!_ I fought back the millions of thoughts in my head as I tried to concentrate on the newsreaders words, tuning back in.

"American Air Forces took this as a threat, and sent out fighter planes to deal with the unknown Force." She continued. I knew that Will would be in one of those fighter planes. "The American forces are working on it now to find out who these unknown forces were, and if they are a threat to the United States. That's all for now, but we'll be back at eight for the evening news. Goodbye."

She didn't mention any incidents or wounded, so I took that as a sign that there was none. He may have acted otherwise, but I could tell Hal was listening intently to the words of the woman on the screen. The reason being that his ears pricked up when she said 'Pacific Ocean'.

Dad returned from work at six. Early.

He wasn't exactly happy, but he was definitely better than usual. He acted more like his old self than he had over the last few months. It felt like we stood a chance, if he went back to his old self, we'd be able to continue life and live it like we used to... without Linda.

They weren't married yet. If she came back, and tried to suck him into her grim way of life, at least he would be able to think about things this time. Maybe now he knew, maybe Dad had realised that she wasn't good for him, and he needed to get away from her, he needed to stand up and tell her exactly what she needs to hear... but maybe that was all a fairy tale...

There was a knock at the door around seven. Dad was getting up but I told him to sit down, "I'll get it." I said.

I opened it to see _her_, stood in the doorway, back straight, hair tightly pulled back into a pony-tail.

"What do you want?" I asked. My voice was cold, no emotion. I wasn't going to give her fuel to insult me again. I wouldn't let her see the anger that hid behind my face, it would only pleasure her, and she didn't deserve that.

"I _want_ to come in." She said it cheerfully. Somehow, she had managed to return to the high-pitched, annoying voice once again...

"That might be a problem." I said, burying the fury in the pit of my stomach.

"And why is that? There shouldn't be any problems if your Dad and I are to be married." She stepped in through the doorway and stood in the hallway. "And we _are_ getting married." She warned me.

"Are you sure? Because if so... he seems to be having butterflies..." I raised my eyebrows deliberately, cringing as I strode past her, leaving her alone in the hallway.

I walked through to the back lounge quickly in case she tried to follow before I could explain to Dad who was here. "Um..." I began, not sure how to put it. "We have a situation..." And she pushed past me, giving me no time to say anything more.

"Hello, Dan." She greeted him pleasantly.

He stood immediately, "Hi." Dad replied, suddenly awkward.

"I understand you left work early today." She said, her voice still pleasant, but underneath all of us could see her urging to point her finger at him as if he was a child.

"Yes, it's Friday, Linda. The day I get to come home _early_." I couldn't help but smirk as I tried not to laugh. He said it in a tone implying that she was mentally unstable... which she was of course. Except, she didn't agree.

"You shouldn't speak to your Boss in such an inappropriate manner." She said, raising her chin like he was just a speck of dirt to her.

"That's a bit of a posh word!" I joked. She looked at me now...I don't think she thought it was funny. At all.

"Why don't you stay out of this!" She boomed.

"Why don't you get the hell out of our house." I said it casually, just to annoy her. To show her that she couldn't get to me.

I don't know why her face was so shocked, she didn't really think I was just going to stand there and take all of her snide comments, did she? "Don't you _dare_ speak to me like that!" Her tone grew more furious. "I am soon to be your Mother!" Oops. Big mistake there.

"Let's get two things straight, Linda. One; you will _never_ be my mother." I glared at her impulsively. "And two; my Dad wouldn't be so blind to marry such a bitch." Using that word was like slapping her in the face.

"Get out!" She screamed. "Dan, make her leave or I swear I will..." She left the sentence hanging, strangling it. "Ugh!" She grunted.

"George, go upstairs please." Dad said in a calm voice.

"Not upstairs! Out, I want her OUT!" She wasn't facing me anymore, she was facing Dad. Leaning towards him, up in his face, intimidating him.

"Linda, she can't leave." He said, staring her in the eyes. "George, go upstairs please." His tone was l soothing as he continued to look her in the eyes, taking control.

I obeyed. "Hal, come on." I beckoned him to come with me, and he got up off the sofa and almost ran towards me, eager to get away. We were walking into the kitchen to go through the hall and upstairs when she sneaked in one of her snide comments.

"She's too much like her mother." She laughed.

I stopped, and in a brief second, so many thoughts streamed through my mind.

I wasn't like my mother, not really. I looked more like Dad's Mum, I had Dad's eyes; Mum's hair was blonde and straight...mine brown, mid-length and waves. I was shy, mum not so much. She'd be willing to talk to anyone, I would stutter just standing up in front of class. She gave up on things too quick, too easily. I always kept going, I would never give up on things, or people. She walked away... and I could never do that.

I stormed back into the lounge, so furious it frightened Linda to see me coming straight in her path. Although it should have, it didn't hurt me to say it; "I am nothing like my mother." I gazed deep in to her eyes, warning her. She was on thin ice.

Linda left after ten more minutes of lecturing Dad whilst me and Hal sat patiently upstairs, waiting for something to happen. After her Audi drove off into the dark, cold winter night, Dad made his way upstairs, his shoulders drooped. Me and Hal were sat at the top of the stairs. He looked tired, so neither I or Hal said anything. But her encouraged us when he spoke.

"Hey, Kids." He said, his voice sounding as if he might yawn any moment.

"Hey."

"Hi."

Our voices were exhausted too.

"It's seven- twenty and I want to go to bed." Dad said, unsurprised, as he checked his watch. "But, I'm off work tomorrow...thank god... so why don't we watch a film?" He smiled, his eyes warm, unlike when he had glared at Linda. And I knew that he hated her just as much as I did; he was just better at keeping it from the surface.

"Let's, please!" Hal begged, his eyes laughing.

"I'm desperate to have some fun." I added in, rising to my feet. "I think there's some Haribos in the cupboard, so we're all set!" I chuckled, and Hal rose too, rushing downstairs...he stopped at the bottom.

"What film?" He asked.

"Dad?" I wanted him to choose, it was his idea, after all.

"Hmmm..." He thought, rubbing his chin to get a laugh out of Hal. It worked. "I don't know; what about something funny?"

Both me and Hal nodded.

"Ok then... " This could take a while, "Love Actually?" He looked at me for an answer.

"Think it's suitable for Hal?" I questioned.

It didn't take long for him to make up his mind. "Well...he's sensible, and I think he'd like it!" It was a fairly good excuse; Hal _was _sensible... and he _would_ enjoy it.

"OK then!" I agreed.


	12. Chapter 12

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 12: Reckless**

Tuesday, 20th November.

Things had gone back to normal. Well, if normal is what you call your Dad working from four-thirty am, to eleven pm, or... hardly being able to talk to him because he's always to tired. Linda was slowly gaining control of him again, and I knew that even though he could see straight through her now, Dad didn't have a choice when it came to Linda being bossy and selfish.

I walked to school, tired from the night before, when I couldn't sleep a wink. I don't know the exact reason for why, but I felt extremely conscious as I lay in bed, and I felt like I had to stay awake if I was going to escape the never-ending sleep that would swallow me into unconsciousness.

When I reached the bus lay-by, Tasha, Eve and Ellenor were there.

"Hey Tash, Hey Eve, Hey Ellenor." I greeted them, and even I could hear the distance in my voice.

"Hey!" They all chorused, sounding wide awake.

"Do any of you know what time it is?" I asked, weary. "I forgot my phone." Yawn.

"Yeah." Eve checked her watch, "It's thirty-five past." She confirmed.

_Thirty-five past eight,_ I thought, _at least that gives me ten minutes to TRY and wake up._

"I'm going to go to form and see if Miss will let us in. It's freezing!" Shian longed on the word 'Freezing' as she finished her statement. "Anyone else coming?"

"I've got to wait for Erin, but see you in a bit." Eve replied.

Ellenor spoke next, "I'll wait with Eve."

Then Tasha, "I'm in a different form..." Was all she needed to say.

And me... "I'll come!" I stuck it in as though there was a queue of people waiting to give their answers. But I was the last one.

The day went on too long... dragging me along in its entanglement of exhaust. My final lesson of the day was Art. All we had to do was draw cartoon people. I took more time on my pencil outlines than needed, and everyone was ahead of me by the end. Carley kept reminding me that I should speed up, but I didn't care. I dwelled on my characters eyes. Studying them each time I edited one or the other over and over; adding tiny little changes, improvements every five seconds.

School eventually ended, and as it did, so did my hope of distractions. I had thought that maybe school would subside the fears that I had for my Dad. I feared so much that he would go back into the hole that Linda dug especially for him. She made him different, a _bad_ different. And even though he managed to pull through, I was still afraid that he would be dragged back into the hole... sucked in a little more day by day, until he was stuck in the thick mud of her incredibly selfish life.

I was heading to the bus lay-by when Shannon Ashton stopped me, destructing the path I had planned precisely in my head to walk on. Another distraction.

"Hiya!" She said, grinning. The sarcasm in her voice was hard to find, but it was there.

"Hi." I replied, keeping my eyes firmly on the invisible path.

"I guess this is another one of your stunts isn't it?" She continued her idiocy. But, although I wasn't previously paying much attention to her words, this distracted me.

"What are you talking about?" I lifted my head to face her, fixing my eyes on hers, searching for any trace of whether she was serious or not.

"Hahaha." She laughed. "It's so pathetic!" I continued to be utterly puzzled by this.

"I really don't understand. Sorry." I walked by her, continuing on my imaginary path through the school gate and to the bus lay-by.

I saw Eve and Ellenor walking just ten metres ahead of me. I was about to catch up with them when I heard a muffled call of my name. I turned suddenly, scanning around for any signs of people that might have been culprit. No-one. I turned once more, to see Eve and Ellenor even further ahead of me now. Another muffled version of my name appeared from nowhere.

_Am I going crazy?!_ I started to think it was all in my head.

But then a much clearer call came out, and I instantly knew who it was.

"Will!" I almost screamed with astonishment and surprise. Everyone stared as I ran towards him and his motorbike.

"Hey, George." He said, his tone relieved. "I thought I was going to have to nearly run you over to get your attention!" Exaggeration filled his voice and I laughed.

He took me home and before I could get into the house, he stopped me. "Don't tell Hal yet!" He whispered.

"We're outside... you can speak." I reminded him.

"Oh, yeah." He let go of my wrist. "I want to surprise him."

"I think you would have done that anyway."

"I know, but... I want to _really_ surprise him." I had no idea what he had in mind, but I was willing to go along with it.

I walked through the front door as casually as I could. But how normal could I act when I just found out my brother was back home. The mood started to sink in deeper as I pretended like everything was the same in front of Hal.

"Have a good day?" I asked. My voice had the slightest hint of excitement in it, and he noticed immediately.

"Yeah. I'm guessing you did?" He replied; there was deep interest in his question.

I tried to tone down the buzzing as my mood was compromised even more by the excitement. "Um, I guess it was OK." I was proud of how uninterested my voice now sounded.

I saw the little flash of confusion cross his face through the corner of my eye. He walked into the back lounge and I saw my chance to go and find out what Will was up to.

"What exactly are you doing?" I said, walking out the front door to see him getting out a big box from the garage.

"Um, I'm _trying_ to surprise Hal with a present..." He said, struggling with the big box.

I went over to him and grabbed the other end. "What is it?" I interrogated.

"Shhh!" He shushed me, stupidly taking his hand off the corner of the box to put his finger to his lips. He picked it back up. "It's a mini sofa for his room!" His face filled with excitement for Hal.

"Wow!" My eyes scanned the top of the box. "Argos as well!" I joked.

"Shutup..." He said, squinting his eyes at me and giving me a sarcastic smile. "OK, let's lift it and take it round the back, then you can bring him out onto the patio!" He whispered with great enthusiasm.

"K." I agreed.

We carried the long, rectangular box through the gate, down the side of the house, and into the back garden. I checked that Hal couldn't see us, and the blinds in the back lounge - luckily - were closed.

"Here." Will whispered, placing his end down on the patio. I did the same.

"Alright, I'll go get him." I whispered, hopping through the back door. "Hal?" I said, come here a sec..." I beckoned for him to follow me.

He jumped off the sofa, sighing. "Why?" He groaned.

"Just come here." I persisted.

I opened the back door for him and he stepped out. I wasn't exactly sure what his expression was implying. He looked sort of puzzled, sort of astonished, and sort of fed up

"You brought me out here to show me some cardboard?" He sighed, looking at me as if to say 'Seriously?'.

I sighed, "Honestly, Hal, give it a chance!" I grinned, and Will jumped out from behind one of the garden chairs.

"SURPRISE!" He sang, nearly falling over as he stood balancing on one leg.

Hal was first of all shocked, but then he managed a big, wide smile and ran over to hug Will. "Your home!" Stating the obvious. "How long are you here for?" He couldn't stop smiling.

"A week!" Will replied, ruffling Hal's hair.

I coughed twice, and nodded towards the box, "Will got you something!"

Hal was overwhelmed with his present. Once he had opened it, me and Will carried it up to his room and made some space for it.

Dad didn't get home from work 'til half eleven, and although me and Hal decided we had to go to bed, Will stayed up and waited.

I lay in bed awake for what seemed like a long, long time until I eventually drifted to sleep. Just thinking. I came to one particular thought that left me pondering on for a while... I realised that Will didn't have any idea about what had happened on that Thursday, the 15th of November. I would have to tell him eventually. He deserved to know. Everything that had happened that night was now clear. Things had gotten out of hand, _she_ had gotten out of hand, when my Dad sided with his children for once. She wanted him all to herself, and with me and Hal around, that wasn't getting any closer to happening. Destructive words flew around my head as I remembered the insults she lobbed at me. Linda was selfish. The most selfish person I know. She wanted everything, love -even if it was fake-, a loyal husband -even if he didn't want to be-, and all of the tiny things that didn't even matter. In the end, I pitied her really, because she didn't have any of those things, they were all unreal, fake. Whereas I had love, my family; and I had a _loyal_ family, because they loved me back. That was all I needed, but she would never have that. And one more thing... I knew that she wanted to hurt me personally, and I knew that I would probably _be_ hurt.

Thursday, 22nd November.

I got home from school to find Linda there. She didn't bother to welcome me, and I was glad of that. There was a note on the side, so I picked it up.

'Gone to Tesco with Hal, be back soon. Will x' Was written on it in Will's neat handwriting.

I sighed, I was now left alone for dead in a house by myself, with Linda.

I went into the back lounge, and she followed.

"Do you mind if I watch something?" She asked, her voice stale.

_Do you care if I mind?_ I thought. "No." I replied.

It was awkward just sitting there, listening to her watch what felt like a thousand Coronation Street replays. A program that I think of as complete, utter rubbish. Dad and Mum had always brought us up to know what was silly and what wasn't; what was wrong and what was wrong.

I heard a gasp from Linda's direction. I truly did not understand what was so engrossing about a soap show. There were a few more gasps and then the final theme tune for Coronation Street came on signifying that it was the end of the program.

_Thank God!_ I thought, rolling my eyes automatically. Lucky she wasn't looking.

"I'm going to watch Hollyoaks." It wasn't a question. She seemed to think she had control o the TV.

"Well, how long is it? Because the news is on at four." I heard myself sounding very reasonable.

"The News? Why do you want to watch the News? There's nothing interesting about it."

If she wanted me to agree, I wasn't giving in so easily. "I like checking that there isn't any, you know... global disasters?"

All I heard after that was an 'Ugh', the clicking of the TV remote, and then the Hollyoaks theme tune.


	13. Chapter 13

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 13: Knowing**

Will and Hal were having a good time, and that kept me happy. Enough to get through the torture that Linda brought when she came to the house every day. The torture being endless episodes of Coronation Street, Hollyoaks and Eastenders...

Honestly, there was no stopping her. Whatever she had her mind set on, it would be on the TV. It carried on so long that I never got even a minute of the News, and every time I asked to switch over it was either a 'No', or a 'Shhh!' Though I hated the way she thought our house was hers, I decided that I would have to put up with it. I didn't want to get me _or_ Dad in trouble; purely because of the fact that it didn't en well last time.

When Dad came home, I and my brothers would be in bed. When we all got up in the morning, he would be gone for work. The only time we ever saw him was for three hours on a Sunday, from six in the evening to about nine o'clock. And even if there was a special time when he was off work for once, Linda would steal him away, claiming that _she_ never got to see him anymore. This got me both confused and immensely annoyed; one, because she was his boss, and she decided his shifts. And two, because she saw him in the time she spent at work with him, whereas we hardly saw any of our Dad.

Friday, 23rd November.

It was so out of the blue. No-one ever expected it. She had made it pretty clear that she wanted to get away... So why was she here?

There was a knock at the door, and I skidded across the wooden floor, grabbing the keys from the kitchen bench on my way. I opened it to find a letter on the door-step. Lying there, waiting to be opened. I picked it up, looking for the name and address that would be written on the front.

Eventually I found it, and the hand-writing wasn't of anyone that I knew well enough to recognise. I thought of Linda sitting in the back lounge. She was nosy enough that she would most likely have the nerve to snatch the letter from my hands and read it herself. Thinking of this, I shut the door and sat on the porch.

It was addressed to me. There were no stamps printed on the envelope signifying any sort of company. _A Special letter_ I thought; though it was probably hardly special at all, I thought that if someone cared enough to hand-write a letter to me, it was special. No surprise seeing that I never saw my Dad enough for him to pay any attention to me.

I tore pieces of the envelope off, eager, but not ravenous. I took out the folded piece of white paper, and opened it to find long paragraphs, written in a different hand-writing to the one on the envelope. My Mother's hand-writing.

I was suddenly taken over by an intense, impatient desire to read it all. I dreamed up all sorts of things that the letter might explain: Why she had left? What Dad and us had done to deserve her abandoning us. Why she 'couldn't carry on the way things were'. They rushed and tumbled through my mind like a waterfall. I couldn't stop them, the rapids were too strong, and the water was taking me over the edge.

I flushed away the thoughts, clearing my head, and concentrating on my task. _Read the damn letter!_ I told myself, trying to grasp my _own_ attention.

Dear George,

I will try and explain things as much as possible in the little time I have . I would write to Will, but I don't know if he is there .

First of all, I'm sorry about leaving, I'm sure you're very mad and upset with me, but please try to understand .

Your Dad has not done anything wrong. It's to do with his work . His head boss was bringing in a woman that he thought could manage the store, but really, she had no idea. Your Dad has worked at the store for a long time now, and although it would've been the right thing to put him as the boss, his head boss didn't think so.

This happened quite a while ago, and it did make things stressed for me and your Dad, but it wasn't a big problem. The problem was that, I was offered a job in London, for an NHS column in the newspaper. Your Dad encouraged me to take the job, and I did, so we decided that instead of moving about so much, we would separate. It wasn't a normal divorce, because we still loved each other, but just not enough to stay together when an opportunity like this comes up.

Your Dad phoned me lots of times, to see how things were, and tell me about how things were going with you four. But soon, his work got more stressful for him, and he didn't phone anymore. I got mad with him, and we argued and argued all the time. I wasn't living in London, as you know, because I came to see you every week. I said some stupid things, and I was wrong to do that. I argued that he wasn't bringing you three up properly, and that he was an irresponsible parent. Of course, this wasn't true. We came to the conclusion that we no longer loved each other, and it was right to get a divorce anyway. I carried on as long as I could acting that everything was fine, but it wasn't and I felt trapped. Your Dad eventually stopped the pretending, and then so did I, and I moved to London.

I wish I had said goodbye so that things might be different now, but I don't think that anything will change. I know you are probably furious with me, so I won't beg, but please write back, so I know that everything is ok .I won't visit, even though I would love to see you, and I hope you can keep in touch with me though I may be far away.

You probably shouldn't tell Hal about this, because he might find it a little hard to understand, but tell Will, so that he knows too. I love you all, please don't think I never did.

All My Love,

Mum x

P.S. Meet me at the bus stop in Queenshall.

12 Carriage Rd, Cheadle, sk7 12c.

But I didn't understand. I didn't understand why they had gotten a divorce in the first place, what was wrong with still being married, even if they were far away? All this letter had done was mess me up even more than I had been before. Although I had wondered about these things, like why she had left, and what was wrong, I would have been better, easier, just continuing to make up silly little theories in my head. What was even worse was that she expected me to take this all in, and then forgive her. And though her letter said otherwise, I knew that was what she expected, forgiveness. I was shocked when I read that she wanted me to write back, never mind _meet_ her, after what seemed like years.

She may have spent ten minutes of her time writing a letter to the daughter and two sons she abandoned, but still, nothing made sense. All the words and sentences were jumbled up in my head, scrambling about, confusing me. I grew angry, and I realised that I was fuming, my breathing heavy. I opened the door, and stormed through to the kitchen, grabbing my Hollister jumper and throwing it over my school uniform. I then went to the garage and forced my bike out, kicking aside brooms and old scooters that had been left there to rot. Shoving the crumpled letter in my pocket, I slipped on my Air-walks and rode off down the road, heading anywhere.

How could she write such a stupid letter!? It was pointless, she had said herself in the letter, and I quote: "I don't think anything will change.". So what was the meaning of this... I tried to put it into perspective as I peddled fast down the road, the wind in my face, throwing my brown, straight hair back, whipping through the air.

I didn't stop until I reached Poynton, and went all the way up the farm lanes. I reached a hill that above all was my favourite, up near Lime Park, and sat down.

Un folding the crumpled letter, I scanned my eyes over it once more. I still couldn't make any sense of it. I looked up to gaze at the amazing view. I could see almost all of Cheshire from here, and on a sunny, clear day, some of Wales. However, it wasn't sunny, and the sky filled with clouds as the biting cold winter air's wind blew my hair across my face, and sent shivers down my spine.

My hands started to tremble, and I lost my grip on the letter. It flew away almost instantly, just a glimpse of the wind carrying it, and then it was gone.

_The Address!_ I thought. _No!_ I felt astonished at finding myself upset by losing the address. And it made me realise that I _did_ want to write back; I wanted to tell her about how I felt, and how everything was being ruined.

I stared across the empty fields, into the countryside. There were no sheep, or cows nearby, and only two horses stood about fifty metres away. Abandoned because of the coldness.

It came back to me then, the address. I remembered it quite clearly, the crumpled piece of paper envisioned in my mind. _Twelve Carriage Road, Cheadle. Twelve Carriage Road, Cheadle._ I kept reminding myself, worried that I might forget.

I got back on my bike, rode into Poynton, and searched for the nearest Costa Coffee I could find. I was immediately warmer once I entered the cafe, and I sat down at one of the tables, looking for a pen. There was a piece of paper under the sugar bowl; I slid it out with my fingers, which were getting less numb now.

'Please leave any comments you have, and tell us what you thought of our service. Thankyou!' Was typed on it. I looked once again for a pen, but didn't succeed in finding one.

"Erm, excuse me." I said shyly to the waiter walking by my table at that very moment.

"Yes?" He said politely, his eyes shining under the bright lights above.

"I was just wondering if you had a pen." I replied, smiling, and he saw the square piece of paper especially for comments under the palm of my hand.

He slipped one out from the handy pocket belt hung around his waist and held it out for me. "There you go." He seemed shy as well, and he only looked about fifteen.

"Thanks." I said, still smiling, nearly embarrassed for my lack of pens...

He smiled back, looking as if he was about to say something else when another customer called for him.

I left the Costa Coffee shop after realising I had no intentions of staying, taking the piece of paper where I had jotted down the address with me, and walked my bike back home. I returned home at six, and it was dark outside.

Will was waiting for me when I got home. "Where have you been?" He said, cautious and slightly angry.

"Poynton." I replied, no tone to my voice. _Tell him!_ The voice in my head screamed.

"Poynton?" He said, hardly surprised. "To see someone?"

"No, I went for a walk." I replied, rooting in the fridge for something to eat. "Did you and Hal eat?" I asked casually, changing the subject.

"Yeah, we had Lasagne." He took the diversion, seeing nothing behind the short story of my walk.

They had left some Lasagne for me, and I ate it happily, hungry from the sudden burst of exercise I had had today. My legs were tired from the peddling, and... It was a pretty long walk.


	14. Chapter 14

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 14: Moving Forward**

I simply _had_to start moving forward. I was holding on to things that wouldn't matter anymore, that would only trouble me, and I wasn't letting go.

I sat on my bed, thinking only of the letter that Mum had written for me. I remembered all of the things she had said in it, and one that took me by surprise was when she so suddenly wrote: `Meet me at the bus stop in Queenshall.' She wanted me to go and see her, in person. But why? Everything was clear, she had made it clear in her letter... nothing was going to change for her, or for me. Things were so different now that there was no turning back.

The address was still scrawled on the mini piece of paper from Costa Coffee. I picked it up from my bedside table and glared at it, undecided.

Should I write her, or not? The question was simple, but the answer was impossible to find, though I searched my heart over and over. That brief second on the hill in Poynton when the letter blew away made me think I should, but was that the right thing to do, or was it just a quick, stupid decision?

I thought about my options whilst I had lunch. It was Saturday, and Will had gone to Greggs to get sausage rolls for us. I picked at the flaky bits of pastry as I struggled over my choices.

I came to the conclusion that I had only three.

1. I would write back telling her to leave me be.

2. I would write back telling her I would meet with her soon.

3. I would bin the address and continue my abstract life as though nothing had happened, ever.

The third option suddenly seemed very appealing.

No. I couldn't just ignore this. I wanted to... but that _wasn't_ an option. It was impossible. I had told Will about it, describing every detail that was in the letter. He said that he would be going back in a few days, and so even though he would love to see Mum, and talk to her about it, there was no point. So he left it for me to decide. _Probably _a bad idea.

"Can we have a McDonalds for dinner?" Pleaded Hal as I sat cross-legged on the sofa, trying but not succeeding to focus on my homework.

I sighed, and thought for a short moment. It did sound appetising. "Why not?" I replied, and I could feel the grin automatically spreading across my face as I gazed at his own.

"What we talking about?" Asked Will, walking in to the lounge with a small, shiny navy-blue box in his hands.

"McDonalds." I grinned. "Dinner."

"Ah." He said, unsurprised. "Your idea by any chance?" He looked at Hal, his own smile brewing.

"Yeah." Hal laughed. And then he ran through to the kitchen.

"So..." Will said, as he watched Hal leave. "I never got the chance to give you your present."

I looked up from my Science homework, my eyebrows raised. "What?" I said, giving him a warning look.

"Well, it seemed only fair since I got Hal one." Excuses, excuses...

"You better not have!"

"I had to!" And he brought the navy-blue little box from behind his back, holding it in front of me.

I returned to my homework, not accepting it.

"Come on, George!" He said, tiredly. "What if you gave me a gift?"

"You wouldn't accept it!" I told him, and he knew it was true.

"Yeah, but you'd want me too..." He replied jokingly.

"Ugh." I sighed, grabbing the box from his hands and flashing him an exasperated look.

He grinned, pleased. "It's nothing special."

I opened the little box to see a silver badge inside. It glistened by the light from the windows, all shiny and polished. It had a wing either side of it, both silver, and in the middle was a silver wreath with the letters 'RAF' in it. A crown sat on the top of the wreath, also silver. It was perfect. It was the only thing I could ever want. I gazed at it for what felt like forever, astonished by its beauty. It wouldn't seem so beautiful to many other girls, but it did to me. I had always admired this symbol. It symbolized bravery, and good.

"Oh my..." I finally spoke. But there were no words to describe how much this meant to me. Or how well Will knew me, how good a brother he was.

He laughed quietly. "I knew you'd love it. You used to want to be in the RAF too, didn't you."

"I still do." I whispered, surprising myself. I hadn't thought about it in so long, but I realised that I still had a dream of being in the RAF. Part of it was because when Will had joined, it inspired me. "Will... I love it! Thankyou SO much!" And I gave him the biggest hug I could.

I spoke quietly to myself for quite a while, going over things in my head again and again. Eventually, this had to come to an end, I thought to myself.

"Ok." I longed on my final decision for a moment, but then nodded to myself, making my choice official. I would write to her. Whether she deserved it or not, I had to. I couldn't just leave her with no reply. Not only was that quite childish, and selfish, but it was mean too; she still loved me, she had said in her letter, so I couldn't be so negative as to not write back to my own mother.

I wrote in my neatest handwriting, trying to be as formal as possible, though don't know why.

Dear Mum,

I began,

I hate how you have suddenly written back. It's been months, and only now do you choose to confuse me?

It felt almost awkward telling her this.

Dad and you may have argued, but you shouldn't have given up so quickly. You should know that things at Dad's work have gotten worse since you left, and now his boss is hanging out at our house all the time. She's horrible, and we've argued a lot.

I fiddled with the pen for a few seconds as I scanned over what I had written so far, realising that I grew more comfortable as I went on.

Her name is Linda, and she's unbelievably snobby. And despite the fact she is constantly rambling on, I try to deal with it.

Will is home at the moment, but he's going back in a few days. I'm sure you'd like to see him, but he doesn't want to. He says there's no point, and to be honest, I agree. You've written to us out of the blue, and I'm not completely sure what I'm supposed to do.

Dad is having a really rough time, so of course I haven't bothered him by telling him about you writing. It's weird, he acts sometimes like he likes Linda, and sometimes he hates her just as much as I do. I sound stupid obviously, I bet you think I haven't even given her a chance, but I have; more than one! But all that's done is prove that she is a heartless, selfish person.

Sorry, I wouldn't want to bother your busy schedule with all this, so you can go back to your newspaper if you want; but just in case you DO care,

I stopped. For a minute, I struggled and wrestled over the idea; if I proposed this appealing offer, would it be a big mistake? _It's worth a try!_ I convinced myself...

I'll be outside the Fairyground after school on Monday, I'll wait till twenty-five to, but if you're not there by then, I'm going home.

George

I finished my letter in a rush, not wanting to think twice about my decision. I folded the A4 piece of paper and shoved it into the white envelope.

I was just scribbling down the address when...

"George!" Will called from downstairs. "If we're going to McDonalds, we need to set off now."

"Ok!" I shouted back, scribbling down the last two digits of the postcode. "Coming!"

On the way back from McDonalds, I asked Will to stop the car by the post office. "Back in a sec." I said, closing the car door.

I rushed over to the bright red post box. I took out the envelope and stuffed it into the opening.

_No going back now._ I thought, walking back to the car. I slid into the passenger seat and stared ahead as Will started the noisy engine of the old 1969 blue Chevy.

"What was that?" He asked curiously.

"Just, Erm..." I tried to get the point across using my facial expression, but Will was just as confused as Hal. "Ugh." I sighed hopelessly. "A reply to a certain letter." Maybe it just felt more obvious to me, because Hal didn't seem to suspect anything.

Will eventually cottoned on, and I knew that when we were home, he would want to know what I had written.

I seemed to think more clearly in the fresh air, because whenever I was on a walk, things always seemed easier to understand. However, this wasn't the case as I walked slowly through Queenshall Park, watching Hal balancing on the edge of the path near the pond. I laughed and he turned around.

"What?" He turned around sharply, to see me trying to hide my grin.

"I was just imagining you falling in." I joked, giving him a small push as I passed. "Oops."

He pushed me back.

It was then that we heard someone shouting. I looked behind me to see two young men pushing each other about angrily. There was definite swearing and lots of inappropriate gestures, and so I turned back quickly to Hal, putting my hand on his back and walking him along the path hurriedly. It was best to get away from this as soon as possible. I couldn't stop looking back, they seemed to be getting closer rather than further away. One group was heading our way, the other following furiously. There was a sudden gush of ice-old wind, and I pulled my brown jacket tighter round my body.

Hal continued to look back too and I knew that they were getting closer, I could hear their voices getting louder. I looked around for a different path that might lead off up the hill to our left, but there was none, and the hill was too muddy and slippy to walk up. We had to carry on forward. The last thing I wanted was to be caught up in the middle of this fight, with nowhere else to go.

_We're nothing to do with it, they'll just pass right by us._ I thought. It might work, but it might mean getting involved. I heard a smack, and my head automatically flashed back to the groups behind us. One of the men was bleeding from his mouth, the other with a smug grin on his face. The man bleeding brought his fist up and punched the first person that came into view. There was immediate shouting and people from up the hill looked down at the scene. You couldn't hear the birds tweeting or the leaves on the floor being carried by the wind over all the chaos.

Since up the hill wasn't an option, and the pond _definitely _wasn't, I continued along the path, my hand still on Hal's back, getting him away from the swearing and fighting. We soon came into the woods, which I knew well from playing here when I was younger. There was still a path going through them until the woods grew deeper, and the path disappeared.

" Which way is the car park?" Asked Hal, nearly tripping over a log.

"It _should_ be straight ahead this way." I pointed forwards.

"OK."

We walked on through the woods, surrounded by some trees still with some leaves on, but all the others bare. It was cold, and I couldn't wait to get home and enjoy a Sunday dinner that was awaiting us. It was already half-four, and the winter nights came fast, making the days darker much earlier. It would be dark at about five-thirty at the latest.

We continued quickly, keeping our eyes fixed on the forest floor, stepping in the right places. It grew darker... and darker, until I realised we should've met the path to the car park by now. I stopped to search around, looking for any signs of a clearing but there was none in sight. I looked at my watch, and the big hand claimed quarter to. Time had ticked by slyly, without my noticing, and I had lost track.

I carried on walking, trying to keep calm though panic suddenly overwhelmed me. The fear of being lost in the woods in the cold and dark was terrifying... not for me, but for Hal. The woods only seemed to be getting deeper, I must have gone wrong somewhere, not looking ahead, but at the floor instead.

"My legs are getting tired, are we almost there?" Hal asked, and his calm voice caught my attention.

I had to tell him, but how? "I'm not sure." My voice quivered on the word 'sure', and he looked at me with concern.

"Well, are we going the right way?" His voice was worried now.

"I don't know." I looked away.

How big could these woods be? Surely the park couldn't go _that_ far! I looked around again, searching for a clearing once more which might lead to the car park. Nothing. If we continued further forward, we might get onto the road that lead to Queenshall village.

"Let's go this way." I said, treading forward through the thick shambles of leaves that covered the floor of the forest. Surely I couldn't go wrong, the woods weren't really big enough to _stay_ lost.

I kept my head up this time, so that I knew where we were going at all times... which of course, I hadn't a clue anyway. The light was fading, and the sun wouldn't be able to keep the sky lit for much longer. I gazed at my watch, it was five o'clock. I was just looking up again, when something beneath my feet gave way, a rock maybe, and I tumbled to the ground, hitting my head on something solid. There seemed to be no leaves to cushion my fall, and the ground was cold. My consciousness faded, and I could no longer see. Everything was dark. I felt secluded... though I shouted Hal's name, there was no reply. It was all blank.

I woke up alone on the forest floor. My sight was blurred and I blinked hard with confusion. When I opened my eyes again, I could see that it was dark, so dark that I couldn't find anything bright at all. I tried to stand up, pushing off the floor with my hands, but I was too weak. I thought of Hal and searched helplessly around though I knew no-one was there. Anxiety brought my hands into fists and my eyes filled with hopeless tears, though I wouldn't let them fall.

Everything that surrounded me looked symmetrical, and I couldn't help but feel a little dizzy. Something wet trickled down my temple near my right eye. I touched the spot where I could feel the trickle, and felt something damp and strange. I brought my hand back down to see blood on my fingertips. The sticky substance looked black from the darkness that isolated me, but I knew it was blood.

Scrambling around with my hands, I tried to find a tree or a rock that I could pull myself up with. I managed to get hold of a tree trunk, and so I used that as support. I felt even dizzier standing up, and the now spinning woods seemed deeper and darker everywhere I turned. I stumbled about on my uncontrollable feet, grabbing on to trees every two seconds to stop myself from falling.

It was cold and now and then I shivered as the icy wind whipped around my legs. The dirtied jeans didn't apply any warmth as I struggled through the woods.

I was overwhelmed when I saw bright lights not far away, signalling a road. I started to run, and I tripped once or twice over logs and branches, but I didn't care. I could hear the roaring of the cars and that encouraged my determination further.

I was out of breath when I eventually reached the road, and though my head hurt, and my asthma wasn't helping, I felt safer now. It took a while because of my dizziness, and the fact that it was pitch black, but I managed to figure out where I was. I was on Queenshall Road South, not too far from the village. If I got there, all I had to do was navigate myself home.

Finally, I reached the village, which surprisingly was quite busy. It was only then that I checked my watch for the time. Seven. Though it felt like ten, or eleven, I trusted in my watch. My head was a lot clearer now that I was on track, though confusion still crowded parts of it.

I walked slowly up to the porch, taking deep breaths. I was probably in for a load of attention, and right now, that was the last thing I needed. I tried on the door-handle, but it wouldn't open, so I knocked. There was no answer. I knocked again. Nothing.

No-one came, and I checked my pockets for keys. Ironically, I soon remembered exactly where they were; in the front pocket of my mini handbag, next to my phone, which I must have left in the woods. Great.

A sudden wave of utter tiredness drowned me and soon I could feel myself slowly drifting back into unconsciousness. Black.

**Hi Guys, thanks for reading, please review and give me some advice! :)**

**Also, a friend of mine has started writing, and they're really good, so here's her name: I-Am-The-TARDIS .**

**Thanks ever so much :) CSJK**


	15. Chapter 15

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 15: Mission**

I awoke not knowing where I was at first, it was all a blur. But then my memory reminisced, and I realised that I was at home on my porch. Strangely, I had not dreamed of the woods, instead I had dreamed of the holiday I had once had in Texas, America, to see my Uncle. Which was strange because I had so many other things on my mind. The dizziness came back, and I felt myself falling off the porch step. Luckily, my reflexes were quite fast and I managed to stop my face from hitting the floor, by putting my hands down. The top of the drive was wet. It had rained. As I looked at the cold, wet floor, I saw my watch. My head felt even more dizzy as I tried to concentrate on the hands of the mini clock, and eventually, my brain began to function nearly properly. It read nine o'clock. I twisted my arms, turning myself over so that I was sat on the drive. I took deep breaths and managed to clear my head for enough time to rethink.

We got lost. I fell and hit my head. Woke up in the woods. Hal was gone. Came home. Nobody here.

"Damn it." I said poorly. As I heard myself speak, the words sounded slurred and strange.

Drops of rain began to fall again, and I knew I had to do something. I couldn't just sit here. I forced myself up using the porch step, and managed to stand. Though the world around me span, I could see clearer than I had sitting down. What if no-one came home? For a while anyway. Were they looking for Hal and me maybe? I thought of any shops or cafes, even restaurants in the village that would be open. I came to the conclusion that there probably wasn't any shops open, _or_ cafes. I would have to settle for a restaurant.

As I walked down the road, I wondered whether Hal was still in the woods. Or if he had gone for help, and got lost further. I couldn't live with myself if anything had happened to my sweet little brother.

I came slowly to the Beluga restaurant in the village, dragging my feet along the dull pavement in the miserable rain. When I entered, I was welcomed with a big grin and a 'Welcome to Beluga, would you like a table?'

My answer was, "Just a chair." I wasn't thinking properly is my excuse.

The woman looked a tad amused and replied "Just one moment, please." And smiled.

She came back ten seconds later and showed me to a small table for two at the front next to the big glass windows. The whole of the front of the restaurant was glass, the only bit with a wall was at the entrance. I looked out onto the street, it was mostly empty, except for a few smokers standing outside the bar across the road, and the little amount of cars that passed by. How much more depressing could I get. I was sat in a restaurant, alone, with no mobile phone, nowhere to go, and no money.

Money.

I stuck my hands into my jean pockets. From the left, out came a five pound note.

Unfortunately, the right had no such surprise, just an empty gum packet.

I stared at the fiver, which now seemed like a hundred pounds. It glistened in the bright streaks from the street lights, and it was as if I had found the key to a treasure chest. No, the treasure.

_How sad am I._ I thought, and lightly slammed the note onto the table, returning to the view of the outside world. What good was five pounds?

The restaurant door opened and my eyes flickered across to see who was entering. Surprisingly, the face was familiar; though I couldn't name it. I knew him from _somewhere_. I thought of all the places I had been in the last week. But nothing involving him came to mind. _Probably someone from school..._ I guessed, and it seemed the most likely chance. But this wasn't important, nothing compared to the problem I faced. I didn't know where anyone was... Will, Hal, Dad; and I didn't know _when _they were coming back..._If_ they were coming back... I exiled that thought from my head as soon as I heard myself think it, and returned to the possibilities of where my family might be.

I wondered whether my friends might know anything, but then again, they probably wouldn't. They didn't even know I was going to the park. Thinking of my friends brought me the terrifying truth of it being Monday tomorrow. School. Which wouldn't be so bad, if I hadn't gotten completely lost in the woods today. I became alarmed when I remembered that tomorrow was _also_ the day that I was meeting Mum.

Oh well. Surely this was the worst it could get.

"Erm, excuse me Miss?" I looked up from the table to see a waitress stood next to me. "Will you be ordering anything this evening?" She kept a smile on though I could see she'd rather not.

"Um," My brain stumbled over what to say next as I thought of a reasonable answer to her question. "No, thanks." Though I was starving, I wasn't in the mood to eat anything.

"Well then I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. We have booked tables for this evening, and unfortunately we won't be able to accommodate you right now." She said it as politely as possible, but there was a hint of bitterness in her voice.

I obeyed, and got up from my seat, heading towards the door. I was on my way out when I realised that this was probably because I wasn't buying anything, not because of 'booked tables'. My brain was _so_ slow. "Wait!" I said, turning around before she could fully close the door, banishing me from Beluga's. "I think I _will _buy something!"

But she was fixed on getting rid of me. "I'm sorry but we really do have people who have pre-booked. Goodbye." And she shut the big mahogany door in my face. I'd go back in but there was no point.

_OK. So it got worse.._ I thought, staring into the rain once again.

I tried not to, but I ended up looking back through the glass window, millions of droplets of rain streaming down the window pane, like a waterfall. I regretted it immediately, it looked so warm inside. I shivered and looked away.

I decided not to go and try another restaurant. I would only be chucked out again.

I dragged myself home, my Airwalk trainers filled almost to the brim with dirty water. I was soaked through and my hair felt heavy with the rain. I managed to reach my destination though, and nothing seemed to have changed. Despite my doubts, I tried on the door handle, but it wouldn't open. I didn't bother knocking. I sat on the porch, depressed by my lack of hope thinning.

I glanced at my watch, my expectations sinking lower and lower. It read ten past nine. No. All that took more than ten minutes, in fact, it felt like over half an hour. I closed my eyes and opened them again, hoping for a better result. But nothing changed.

I hit my watch and sighed heavily. "Why can't _anything_ go right for me!" I shouted, angrily taking off my watch in a rush and throwing it onto the road with as much force as possible with the little strength I now had.

I leant back against the side of the porch and closed my eyes, hoping that when I opened them, my family would be back.

I heard loud voices and the beeping of cars. I couldn't open my eyes, it was as if they had been glued together. Listening carefully, I tried to make out what the voices were saying. I knew I was awake, I could feel the cold wind against one side of my face, the other sheltered by the inside of the porch.

"I don't care!" I heard one voice say.

"It's pitch black. There's no point now. We'll go again tomorrow." The other voice sounded calming, but it also sounded crestfallen.

Other voices crowded around and footsteps came closer, making the two voices unreadable. Wheels of cars came, stopped, and then drove on along the road. I could hear the screeching of the rubber tyres against the wet tarmac as they turned the corner at the end of the road.

What seemed like hundreds of voices came closer and closer, until I heard them at the end of the drive. There was a massive exclamation in the suddenly shocked voices. There were no more footsteps.

I tried once again to open my eyes, and they managed to flicker slightly for a short second. I could suddenly hear people running up the drive towards me. I wasn't sure whether to be scared or relieved.

"George!" Someone screamed.

I heard other people mumble my name, and then someone threw their arms around me.

I was carried through the door, and onto the sofa in the back lounge. I knew exactly where I was, though I couldn't see. Footsteps followed us in, and there were about fifty different conversations going on all at the same time.

A couple of people shushed, and the converse stopped. Silence filled the small room, and I opened my eyes.


	16. Chapter 16

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 16: Searching**

There were two main people that I could see. Dad and Will.

They stood not two feet away from me, and behind them was a crowd of people. Some, I knew; the others, I could only vaguely remember.

I could feel their eyes on me.

There must have been about fourteen people stood in the lounge. No-one spoke for at least ten seconds after I opened my eyes.

"George, where on earth have you been?" Dad asked in a soothing voice, kneeling down beside me.

I couldn't speak, I felt like I was still half asleep. I could only manage a mumble, and I just wanted to drift back into unconsciousness. Though I starved to know what everyone was doing, I really didn't think I would be able to stay awake. I felt safe now, and that meant I wouldn't have to worry, I could live in my dreams again whilst I waited for the morning to come.

The alarm clock woke me at seven. At first I didn't think I had slept at all, but then memories occurred and I knew that I had slept a deep sleep. It was just another normal day, and I would continue as normal too; never-mind the hectic, complications that had engulfed me yesterday.

I headed into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and went through the usual routine.

As I entered the kitchen, Dad greeted me with a big hug, and asked if I was okay.

"I'm... fine." I decided, producing a weak smile. It wasn't a lie, I felt good.

"Good." He said, smiling a relieved smile, with a very faint hint of worry.

I nodded, still smiling, and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

I heard slow footsteps treading down the stairs, and then Will came through the kitchen door. He too looked relieved to see me up and about, _and _dressed for school.

"Wouldn't you want to sleep in and skip school for today?" Will asked, his sleepy eyes deepening with almost laughter.

"Um..." I looked down to stare at the floor again, confused with myself as I asked the same question over in my head. "No, it's probably best I just carry on."

"OK." He agreed.

"I'm making sausages and bacon." Dad said with excitement. He seemed so much happier at the moment, like all this ridiculous drama had made him realise what was important. _Or_ he hadn't seen Linda in about three days, and _that_ had lifted his mood.

"Yum." I laughed, sitting down on the kitchen bar stool next to the worktop.

"You should really clean up those cuts." Will commented, nodding towards my knees.

"Oh." I said, discovering the cuts on my knees and some just above. They looked quite deep, and only now that I had seen them, started to hurt. "Yeah." I got up from the stool and jogged up the stairs, noticing that the muscles in my legs felt bruised and strained. "Ouch." I whispered as I reached the top.

I rummaged through the bathroom corner cupboard, and managed to find some cleansing wipes and Sudocrem. I wasn't fussy and so it didn't take long to get the dirt out of the cuts. After sliding the Sudocrem back into the cupboard, I went into my bedroom, and hunted for my jeans.

Holding the ripped, bloodied jeans in front of me, I studied the wrecked material and sighed. A perfectly good pair of jeans ruined. But then I laughed bitterly, that was the least important thing at this moment in time. I threw them carelessly to the floor and walked slowly back downstairs, trying not to cause anymore pain to my battered legs.

I ate a piece of bacon and a sausage with a drink of orange juice and then grabbed my school bag to leave. I was halfway out the door when Will lightly ran over to me and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to find him smiling his wonderful smile, and holding out something in his hand. My phone. I took it from his hand, smiled back thankfully, and closed the door behind me.

School dragged on. I reached form at about twenty-five past eight, early. When I went through the door, I was glad to see Shian, Eve and Ellenor there. They all greeted me with a 'Hi'.

"No offense... but you look terrible, George." Ellenor laughed as I sat down.

"Thanks." I felt terrible too. I could feel the bags under my eyes sinking deeper, and my legs hurt even more after the tiring walk to school. I gave a small laugh, and aimed to focus on something else.

"Nice, Ellenor." Eve commented, and that made me smile.

"You're early for once." Shian told me.

"I know." I said, glancing at the clock again above the whiteboard at the front of the classroom. "So, how was your weekend guys?"

"Great! Me and Carley went to see that new twilight movie." Shian said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, and I went to Wales for the day on Saturday." Ellenor added.

Eve coughed meaningly at Ellenor, "And I went with her." She said, smiling sarcastically.

I laughed again.

Carley came through the door then. "Hiya."

"Hi." The rest of us chorused.

"We never asked _you_ how _your_ weekend was." Shian turned to me.

"My weekend was pretty crazy actually." I wasn't sure whether to tell them or not. "I was really busy." I added, deciding not.

I wasn't able to concentrate properly for most of the day. The lessons seemed to last forever, and I couldn't be bothered enough to pay attention. Unfortunately, last period was P.E..

Athletics was one of my stronger points, I was in top set for everything in P.E., but my best subject was track. Today though, this wasn't the case. I tripped up halfway round the four-hundred, and nearly everyone watching laughed... which was about fifteen people. My legs burned, and the pain was nearly intolerable. I didn't understand how they were so bad. How much walking had I done yesterday? I couldn't remember how many times I had fallen, but I was pretty sure it was a lot. The cuts on my knees were quite bad and I decided to sit out for a bit, not only because of that, but because my asthma wasn't exactly helping the situation.

Miss enquired about how I was feeling a couple of times, and I replied that I was fine. It was last period, and I was determined to end it on a good note, so I got back on the track for a final two-lap race. I came fourth, and was quite proud considering my condition. My inhaler relieved me afterwards, and I managed to get my breath back, enough to walk back home anyway.

I waited at the Fairyground for Eve, Ellenor and Shian. I could see them about a hundred yards away, when someone else entered my view. Mum.

I had completely forgotten her. It was Monday, the day that I had agreed to meet her. Here.

"No, No..." I whispered to myself, turning in the opposite direction. I no longer felt the urge to see her. In fact, it was the absolute last thing I wanted right now. I had promised to wait for Eve and the others, as I did everyday; and I felt and unconditional loyalty to them since I had lied this morning. Well, I hadn't exactly lied, but as friends, I should really have told them. No excuses.

I looked back quickly to see if she was still there. Of course she was. She stood not fifty yards from me, waiting. She hadn't noticed me yet, so did I still have a chance of getting away _with_ my friends? She didn't seem to be searching around, so she must have thought I was true enough to keep my word. Deciding it was safe enough to stay facing that way, I turned towards her, hoping she wouldn't see me. I could still see Eve, Ellenor and Shian, walking this way. They came closer to her, and then Eve realised who it was. I then saw Shian nudge Ellenor and signal to go nearer to the shops. They didn't want to be seen either.

Once they reached me, I didn't quite know what to say. It was Shian who asked the first question.

"Is your Mum here?"

"Um...Yeah." I replied cringingly.

"I thought," Ellenor paused, "I mean, not to be rude or anything... but I thought she left?"

"Yeah, me too. But then she wrote and...-" I was midsentence when she saw me.

I was watching her the whole time, she glanced my way, and then stared at me like she hadn't seen me in years. Her face was almost pained. There was nowhere for me to hide now. I stared back, almost relieved that she had seen me, which shocked me.

"George?" Shian said my name and distracted my thoughts.

I continued to keep my eyes on her though. "Sorry, I have to go." I said absentmindedly. I started to walk over to her, and then my thoughts caught up with my actions. I turned back. "You guys go. I think I'll be a while." I smiled and then turned once again to face my mother.

I walked up to her slowly, and stopped about a metre away.

"Hi." It was weird how her voice sounded normal, as if nothing had ever happened. Like she hadn't left.

I looked away for a short moment, tucking my hair behind my ear shyly. Nervously. But there was no need to be nervous. "Hi." I replied, looking her in the eyes again.

"I'm glad you came." She smiled.

"Me too."

"Did something happen to you?" She asked, taking a step towards me and studying above my left temple with her hand.

I took a step back. "No." I said in a rush.

"You've got a cut there." She continued.

"It's nothing." I assured her, looking over to the shops so that she couldn't stare at it for much longer.

"And your _legs_... George, what's the matter?" She insisted.

But it wasn't her business. She had left our family, and with that, she had left anything that came with it, including parenting, and responsibility. "Uh." I sighed quietly. "This was a mistake." I whispered.

"What? Why?" She asked, again acting like everything was back to normal. Though things were better than before, that didn't mean that they were OK.

"You don't understand."

"Don't understand what? Is this because you're annoyed at me? Is that it?" She was making this more dramatic than it needed to be.

"What? No! It's _nothing_ to do with that!"

"So you're not annoyed?"

"Is that all you care about, yourself? Of course I'm annoyed at you, you left at a time when Dad needed you."

"I have a better job now, George."

"Exactly, it's all about you."

"We argued. There was no point staying together!"

I looked away again, laughing, tears welling in my eyes. "Everybody argues! That doesn't mean you just abandon your family!"

"I didn't have a choice!"

"You _always _have a choice." I shook my head, still looking away.

"Yeah, real dramatic, George." She said, shaking her head too.

I turned my head back to her immediately, fiercely. "Don't turn this on me!" I shouted.

"Why not? It's not all my fault you know!"

"What, so it's_ my_ fault?"

"I don't know! It's everything."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"How? What is so difficult for you to understand?"

I laughed again. "Why you gave up so easily." I turned serious. "Marriage isn't supposed to end just because you argue a bit. Dad didn't want that divorce, and I don't choose to believe you did either. Otherwise, you wouldn't have dragged it on so long."

"You're wrong."

"Am I?"

"I've moved on now!"

"Then why are you here?!"

"For you!"

"That's not true and you _know_ it!"

"I wanted to make things right!"

"You're not the same!"

"What?" She was generally confused by the change of topic.

"That's what's wrong!"

"There's nothing wrong with me!"

"This is only making things more difficult."

"There's nothing difficult about this."

"Yes there is."

"No, I explained it _all_ in my letter."

"Yeah..._YOUR_ side of life. Mine is _completely_ different."

"How?"

"I moved on!" I blurted.

Her expression was unreadable.

"I had more important things to worry about. You were only a memory." I lowered my hands that had made their way up into the air throughout the argument. "I was perfectly fine. I carried on. But then you wrote, and interrupted everything." My voice was calm now.

She didn't say anything.

"My life is different now. There are things that are nothing to do with you."

"I'm everything to do with this." She insisted.

"Not this. Other things."

"I wrote to explain everything, to make things better, tie up loose ends."

"I know, but you're the one who hasn't moved on. You are still hanging on to our lives. But the truth is, you don't need to. Because you left." The tears that had welled up in my eyes were gone now. This wasn't something to cry over. This was something to _get_ over. Something to leave behind. Mum may have left us, but she was the one that regretted it. I loved her so much, but she had changed, and I was willing to let go.

"Then I won't. I'll go now. I know how things are, and you won't hear of me again."

"You should know that that's not what _I_ want, it's what _you_ want. I never wanted any of this, you did. I don't know why you left Dad for a job, but I don't need to know." I was calm and collected, and I wanted her to realise how things were.

"OK." And she turned to walk to her car.

"Bye, Mum."

She looked back for just a second to smile. I stood still as she drove off along the road. That was one thing that couldn't bother me anymore.

I could return to living my abnormal, messed up life.


	17. Chapter 17

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 17: Changes**

Since Mum and I had... _sorted_ things out, my thoughts were a lot clearer. I could concentrate on other important things without the same worries coming back to haunt me. She could live her life, and I could live mine. I knew she still loved us, and Dad too, but there was stuff she couldn't cope with, and although we all loved her back, she had made the decision to leave. That was OK.

Saturday 1st December.

Busy. I had gotten up at eight, went for a jog, showered, had my piano lesson, ate a sandwich, went with Hal to his school Christmas fair, came back home, gone to the village with Hal, Shian and Eve, made lemon iced cupcakes, washed up, went to Tesco, did the shopping, came home, _unpacked_ the shopping, and _finally_... sat down. It felt both a long and fulfilled day, which was good, it was good to have things to do instead of lazing around doing absolutely nothing. I sold charity bracelets on a stall at the Queenshall Primary Christmas fair, and raised sixteen pounds. Not much, but good enough to donate. Hal had fun, that was the most important thing to me, he hadn't had a lot of that lately, so it was nice to see him laughing and playing with his friends on the lucky dip stall. Ha.

Will had gone back to America five days ago, and though I dreaded it, saying goodbye wasn't as hard now that I knew things were bit by bit getting better at home. Linda hadn't come in a while, and it looked like we might not have to deal with her for much longer. But I seemed to have jinxed that.

"Linda wants to go on holiday." Dad brought up very suddenly on Monday evening as we ate the casserole he had made earlier on.

"What?" I put down my drink, swallowing.

"She wants to go on holiday, and I think it'd be a good idea." He seemed all too calm about this.

We barely had enough money to carry on the way things were, never mind going on vacation!. There wasn't a chance anyone was going anywhere.

"A good idea?" I wasn't angry, just surprised. "Dad, you never said _you_ wanted to go. You said Linda." I pointed out, as if he didn't already know.

His expression was still strangely normal, calm, like he was ok with that. Concealed.

"If she wants to go, then we're going." He carried on eating, keeping his eyes down.

I said nothing more, I didn't want to aggravate him or start an argument over something that simply couldn't possibly happen.

It must have been about two o'clock when I heard a knock at the door. I trudged slowly down the stairs, wiping my eyes clean of sleep, but every time I tried opening them, the same blurry vision occurred. I opened the door unwillingly, and the cold, winter night air flushed in to greet me. But that wasn't the only thing waiting.

"Hello!" A slurred, loud voice boomed in my face, and I squeezed my eyes shut, cringing away from the noise.

"What the..." I began, opening slightly one of my eyes to find my worst nightmare stammering about in front of me.

"I'm coming in now!" I assumed she was drunk, because I couldn't find any other reasons for why she was shouting and nearly falling off the porch step.

I turned on the porch light and it shone brightly in my eyes, making it hard to see. All my eyes managed to discover was the silhouette. "Linda, it's the middle of the night and I'm shattered. Go away." I said, exasperated. I heard myself sigh heavily as I tried to close the door gently. But she stuck her handbag in the way.

"No, no, I promise, I won't make a noise." She pushed, holding her finger to her mouth as if to sound a 'Shhh!'. "Have you got any champagne?" She asked, swinging the beer bottle in her hand around freely as she stood in the hall. "I want to celebrate!"

"Ugh. Celebrate what?" I gave up trying to force her out. I was too exhausted.

"Didn't you know?" She laughed, "I'm moving in!" She whispered loudly, if that's even possible.

I stared blankly at her, motionless. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and turned around to see Hal at the bottom.

"What's happened?" Hal asked innocently, rubbing his eyes as he squinted at Linda through the darkness.

"Nothing's happened, Hal. Just go back to bed." I answered, making my voice as soothing as possible at about half two in the morning.

"Waiter, have you got my champagne yet?" Linda interrupted, sounding generally confused.

I sighed again, "Linda, go into the kitchen." I should've known she wouldn't obey, even in a drunken state like this.

She stayed where she was, folding her arms, sulking like a five year-old. "No." She said childishly.

Normally, I would laugh, but I wasn't in the mood. "Hal, please go back to sleep." I pleaded.

"Fine." He surrendered, beginning to tread back up the stairs.

I walked through to the kitchen and Linda followed. "Ok." I said shutting the door behind her. "You're not moving in." I declared.

"I am." She said happily.

I figured I might have the best chance of winning this awful game whilst she was drunk. "If you want your champagne, you're going to have to answer some questions first." I spoke slowly, making sure she could understand. I began to see the funny advantage of her being drunk.

"Hmmm." She thought deeply, though I was sure her mind was completely vacant. "OK." She agreed cheerfully.

"One, does my Dad like you?"

"Of course he does, silly!"

I sighed quietly to myself. "Two..." I thought for a moment, "...are you sure?"

She shrugged, still smiling blithely.

Maybe all I needed was persistence. I never would have thought I could work this _hard_ so early in the morning. I glanced at the clock, it was half past two. "Three, do you like him?"

"I want my champagne now! I've already answered loads of questions and-"

"Two." I murmured under my breath.

"- I think that's enough to win champagne." She finished, pointing her finger. "Where is it?" She strutted about in her glossy high heels, nearly stumbling over as she opened up all the cupboards and drawers, searching endlessly for her precious champagne.

"Um, Linda?" I called, smirking. Her head popped up over the counter. "We don't serve champagne here. But you should try that bar in the village, they do!" I said mockingly, waiting desperately for her response.

"Oh." She saddened. "Ok then, I'll go there."

It took a while to actually get her out the door, but once she was outside, I closed the door, locked it, and thankfully went back upstairs to bed.

The next morning, I felt as if I hadn't slept a wink. I had a dreadful ache behind my eyes, and it hurt to concentrate my sight on anything. Obviously, school was for this reason, a nightmare. The day lingered on, and I was glad to get home. At first.

"Hey." I said glumly to Hal, who was sat in the lounge.

"Hey." He replied, in the same downcast tone.

"Hi." Linda's voice _also_ replied, a higher, more eager sound to it.

Memories of last night's performance flashed back to me, and I puzzled over whether she would remember or not.

"I'm going to go upstairs, so-"

"But wait," She interrupted mid-sentence. "I wanted to talk about my moving in here." The smile on her face was almost mocking. Yeah, she remembered.

My eyes flickered across the room to Hal. How much of this had he had to put up with before I got home? There was no way she could _possibly_ be _moving_ in. It would put our lives in disorder. Our daily routines wouldn't be the same, not that they ever were. Dad surely didn't _desire_ this. Even though he was made to spend more time with her than us, a part of me was positive that he couldn't like her that much. What reason was there to be fond of her? I for one _loathed_ her.

"Um." I stuttered. "You're not really... _moving_ _in_, are you?"

"Of course I am." She answered cheerfully. "Your Dad and I have decided." She grinned and I knew I couldn't do anything about it.

It would only start more arguments, and, _their_ (aka _her_) decree sounded pretty clear. She had her twisted mind resolute on that scheme. I considered the different intentions, and I decided on one in particular:

She would move in and make this house her own, she would spend all our money on fancy furniture, holidays, and absurd stuff that we didn't need. Dad would apply himself to her, and she would use him like a puppet. Me and Hal would stand by and watch as she ruptured our way of living.

There was no doubt about it.

Things would be different. Nevertheless, there was one thing I wouldn't in any plight bring myself to live with, and that was her. I just couldn't. It was inevitable, but I would find _some_ way around it.

"George, I think you're going to have to get used to making me coffee. I drink it quite a lot." She said loudly.

"Yeah, you like champagne too, don't you." I mumbled, but succumbed to her crude order.

I moved to the kitchen slowly to turn on the kettle.

"Sugar?" I asked.

"One teaspoon." She shouted back.

"And milk?"

"A bit."

I considered putting salt in, but determined no on that one. Maybe another time.

Once I had finished the amazing masterpiece, I took it through to her and handed her the hot mug.

I went and sat next to Hal on the sofa, sighing as I landed. "Good day?" I asked him.

"This isn't how I like it." She intruded before Hal could speak.

"I did it just how you said. A teaspoon of sugar and 'a bit' of milk." I struggled to find a problem.

"Well it doesn't taste nice, so, take it back." She was just cavilling.

"This isn't a restaurant. Do it yourself." In my ears, I didn't sound in any way offensive, or rude, just ordinary.

She must have weird ears. "Don't speak to me like that!"

"Like what?

"Don't be silly." She quarrelled. "Now, take it back."

"I'm not your slave, you can't order me about."

"I can do what I want, thank you very much."

"Then so can I!"

"No, because you're just a little girl." She sniggered.

"No, you're the little girl." Hal intervened.

"Shutup, and stay out of it." She said in an ugly voice.

"Don't speak to him like that. You have no right."

"Oh yes I do!" She was stood up now, and stomping over to us, her high heels making impressions on the carpet. "I live here now. You answer to me!" She bellowed, and we flinched.

"I think you might have had a _little _too much champagne, Linda!" I stood too, and we were the same height.

She gave me a strong look of hatred.

"My Dad may be able to endure your arrogant, stuck-up personality, but I won't continue to live under this roof as long as you're here."

"Me either!" Hal supported me.

"Good! That's perfect! Now get out! Both of you, get out now!" She screeched, walking out the room and pointing in the direction of the front door. "Out!" I could kill her just to get rid of the excitement in her voice.

Hal and I stood firm.

"Stop it!" Dad shouted. None of us had realised he was there. Stood in the dining room across from us. He must have come through the other door whilst we were all shouting. "Linda, go into the front lounge."

"No, I want to teach these little brats a lesson!" She urged.

"Now!" Dad ordered.

She strutted away angrily, her arms folded like a sulky child again.

Dad watched her and then turned to us, his expression fatigued. "Ugh." He sighed. "Does everything have to end in an argument?" He slumped down on the sofa, and ,me and Hal followed.

"I don't think it's the end." I said, holding his hand.

There was a long silence.

"Yeah." Hal said. "She's still in the front room."

Me and Dad laughed quietly, and I could feel him squeezing my hand tight.

"I'm sorry." Dad said. "I haven't been a good father over the last few months."

"You're the greatest father in the world; just because you've got a horrible boss who we all despise, doesn't mean you failed." I smiled.

"Yeah?" He whispered.

"Yeah."

Over the next week, the arguments continued. I didn't want it to be like this for Christmas, but it wasn't looking good.

Me and Hal _both_ had great big purple bags under our eyes nearly every day, and when Hal's teacher phoned up, I conjured up an excuse, telling them that he had watched a scary movie alone and couldn't get to sleep easily.

School didn't make things any easier. Practicing for GCSE's was tedious, and though I had my friends there to cheer me up sometimes, it wasn't the same as before. It was almost like someone had died, and people felt uncomfortable talking to me. Like _I_ had died.

Every day, I returned home only to find Linda there, dominating the house, intimidating me and bossing me about. Hal felt just the same, like he didn't have any choices anymore, as if that was the only way things could go, the only way he could _live_. _I _knew that wasn't true, but I experienced myself suffering the same thoughts sometimes. Though I had stood up to her only a few days ago, I didn't sense the same confidence, and so when she told me to do something, I did it, without another word.

I could leave. That seemed so easy just thinking it. But in truth, in honest reality, it would be much more formidable. Even so, I still dreamed about it, about going away will Hal, and if feasible, Dad too. But that only made it tougher to imagine the consequences. It would mean leaving my home, my friends, the place I knew so well, and everything it's little village possessed. I didn't want to... I _couldn't_.

"George, I want to talk to you." Dad spoke to me for the first time in three whole days.

"Yes." I replied, longing to talk to him. I listened patiently.

"Let's go out in the back garden." He nodded towards the double back doors.

"But it's freezing outside." I remarked, looking back at him with bewilderment. Why on earth did he want to go outside?

"Just, trust me, it's better if we go outside." He said, and I could see the honesty in his eyes. The integrity that made them so deep and understanding.

"OK." My voice was small and quiet.

We walked out onto the patio, it was already going dark, and the skies were filled with stormy grey rainclouds, ready to flood us with water.

He closed the door behind us. The biting wind slapped against my cheeks like I had been smacked in the face. It blew my hair all over the place, and I had no jacket, just my scruffy, white school shirt.

"I want you to listen to me, George. And I don't want you to be upset, do you understand?" It was hard to hear him over the gusts of wind that bellowed in my ears.

"Yeah." I consented.

"Things are only going to get more difficult around here, and I don't want you to be stuck bang in the middle of it." He turned away for a moment, like he was striving for words. He was distressed.

"Dad?" I said, confused by what he was saying.

"I only want the best for you, George." He persevered.

I said nothing, I didn't know where he was headed with this. My mind was thoroughly disorientated. The wind blasted through my ears, and made me shiver. We didn't speak for at least ten seconds while he battled his troubles again.

Then it was all very sudden.

"You need to go."

I was dazed, I could only just hear his words, but they were clear enough. I went blank for a long moment.

Droplets of rain began to fall and before I could even prepare to take the plunge of making a response, it was chucking it down heavily. My hair and clothes were soaked through within a minute, and throughout that minute, none of us spoke still.

"Why." I choked.

"It's not good for you here." He answered, though I wasn't really looking for an answer, I already knew it.

"I don't understand." I mouthed, not capable of finding my voice.

There was another long silence as the rain gushed down on us. A crack of thunder shook the skies above, and I looked up hopelessly.

"George, it will be better for you over there." He resumed.

"Over there?" I interrogated. "Over where?" I asked, tears flowing to the brims of my eyes as I stumbled over the latest information in my head.

"America." He said, lifting and then dropping his hands helplessly.

"America?" I repeated, shocked.

He didn't want me to go. I knew it, otherwise this wouldn't be so hard for him.

"I don't have to go!" I cried. "I'm fine here."

"No, you're not. You need somewhere that you can go without worrying it's not safe. You need someone you can rely on."

"I need you!" I croaked.

This couldn't be happening. I couldn't go to America. I couldn't deal with all of this right now. I couldn't think.

"George, please just listen." I saw the floods of tears running down his face then. This was just as painful for him as it was for me. "I've talked to your Uncle and Auntie over in Texas. You're going to stay with them. My brother is a better influence than me." He said those last few words quietly, but even though the rain still poured and the thunder still crackled, I could hear the despair in his voice.

I had mixed emotions, mostly sorrow and pain. I could feel my heart being torn apart, shrieking for help as it's hope was deserted.

I was lost. I knew perfectly where I was. But I was lost in a sense that baffled me. I felt like I had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from the agony that searched desperately for me. And so I was lost in an abyss of bleak unhappiness.

"George, come inside." Dad's voice pulled me back up to the surface. He was holding the door open, beckoning for me to go in.

I shook my head. Tears rolled down my cheeks, burning as they did. The abyss was all of a sudden swallowing me again, and I couldn't help but feel a slight desperation to dive in.

"George, come on." His voice grew impatient, "Please." He pleaded.

I forgot how to move. I felt limp all over, and I noticed my right hand was held on my chest. I gasped for air, the pain in my chest that advanced from my heart growing more agonizing every second.

Dad's hand grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. He hugged me tight, embracing me in his warmth. I didn't want him to let go, I didn't want to have to say goodbye to him more than once.

He _did_ let go though, and I knew that he wasn't going to change his mind. He was concerned that everything would get worse, and I couldn't help agreeing.

Not only was I losing Dad though, I would be losing one of the other most important people in my life. Hal. At first, I thought he was coming. I didn't think he would be able to cope if I couldn't. But Dad didn't want to have to say goodbye to his third child as well; so Hal would be staying with my Auntie who lives in Poynton.

I was puzzled by why I couldn't stay with my Auntie too. I had always been very close with her, and it felt stupid to have to go to America. Dad explained that too though, and told me that my family over there wanted to see me. They missed me a lot. And I missed them. But I just couldn't face parting with Hal and Dad.

There were many things I struggled to see the bright side of. Like having to leave my old friends, and make new ones. Like deserting all my work I had done in my school here, and starting over in Houston. Like being away from a place I knew so well, and having to live somewhere else, where I had never been before.

Nevertheless, over time, I developed reasons for being more grateful... I would be able to see Will more often; maybe even visit him sometimes. I would see my Uncle, and my Auntie, and maybe my cousins, who I hadn't seen in about six years. I would get to live life in a different country, and get used to it. It would be...

Interesting.


	18. Chapter 18

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 18: Flying**

It was the hardest thing. I almost turned back. I just couldn't endure saying goodbye.

It didn't drag on. There was no point. It wouldn't make a difference.

So I hugged them both tightly for a minute at the most, and said my goodbyes, telling them that I would phone as much as possible. But we all knew that that wouldn't be very often.

I had already said farewell to Eve, Ellenor, Shian, Tasha and Carley. I did it at school on Thursday... yesterday. I shed a tear now and then as I thought about how I wouldn't see them for an age. Luckily, they didn't notice.

The posh voice echoed around the large central waiting area, telling me it was time to go. I turned to wave once more before I continued to boarding the plane. Dad and Hal waved back, and I smiled though my heart was breaking.

It was a big plane, mostly filled with business men and women, tucking their black, shiny suitcases above their seats.

I had one large suitcase, stuffed with all my most precious and meaningful, important memories; and of course clothes and necessary belongings. The only other thing was my rucksack which I carried on with me.

I sat down in my seat, it was quite near the back of the plane, and next to the window. I liked sitting next to the windows, looking down on the amazing, colourful life below. It was nearly half an hour before we got ready to set off. We were slightly delayed because someone threw up before getting on. I wasn't bothered. In fact, the whole time, I pondered over whether Dad and Hal were still in the Airport, or whether they had saved themselves the apathy. I decided that they had though, whether it was true or not, and that they wanted to see me take off, and say their final goodbye. Presumably not, but I still dreamed.

Eventually, the flight attendants came round handing pieces of laminated paper to each row. I was the only person on my row, and there was no one behind me. I preferred it that way. The seatbelt lights came on, and a 'Ding-dong' sound came out of the speakers above. I put on my seatbelt and endeavoured to be enthusiastic. But it was half four in the morning and I wasn't feeling very lively.

"Please prepare for takeoff." The clear, syllabised voice announced. "Fasten your seatbelts to the appropriate length and please read the flight cards which tell you what to do in an emergency. Thank you."

There was numerous clicking's of seatbelts, and people twitched in their seats, struggling to get comfy. I however, had two extra seats, and there was no one in front of, or behind me that could be disturbed. This was the advantage of vacationing in the middle of a school term.

The plane slowly began to move, and once we had turned onto the runway, it was all quite quick. The plane rumbled and the engines accelerated, thundering as we barrelled down the runway until we lost touch of ground and the bumpiness stopped.

I looked out of the window the whole time as we climbed higher up into the night sky. It was an early winter morning, dark, and all I could make out were the orange, white and blue lights from the buildings below. I had to make my ears pop a few times, and no matter how fast I chewed my Haribos, I could still feel the pressure which seemed to be trapped in my ears.

It was quite beautiful at dark, and I persevered on thinking about that instead of home. I stared out into the depth of the night, various wonders strolling peacefully through my mind.

I put in my earphones, and played Coldplay songs over and over as I observed the right wing of the aeroplane. I could see the wind practically spraying off the shutters. Everything seemed so much more secluded up here, like everything down on earth had been paused, and it was all silent just because _I_ couldn't see or hear it.

The lights that I could once perceive were now gone, they had disappeared, and for that, I knew we were rapidly floating over the Atlantic Ocean.

The next time I opened my eyes, dawn was breaking. Spots of sunlight trickled over the tops of clouds, causing an overwhelming bloom of golden orange and yellow linings.

I checked my watch, which was now working again, I think. It claimed half seven, but the time would change as I journeyed, so I didn't pay much attention to it.

By the time the plane landed, I had already had lunch and a Dr. Pepper. My Uncle Matthew was waiting for me when I got off the plane. I almost ran to him, but my heavy rucksack stopped me. I gave him a long hug.

"Hi, Uncle Matthew!" I said, not able to stop myself from grinning.

"Hey, George! It's great to see you! It's been about three years since I saw you last." He hugged me again. "Come on, let's go."

We walked out to the car park, and over to his dark red, agleam truck. The heat was immense. Everywhere I looked, the sun shone. I might need some more shorts.

"We can put your suitcase in the back, it won't slide about too much." He laughed.

"That's fine." I laughed with him. "It doesn't look like it's gonna fit inside." I examined the car. There were two front seats, and the back was a big open carrier.

He lifted it in and then came to sit in the front. I followed, taking my backpack off and putting it beside my legs.

"Your Auntie Emma is dying to see you." He said, starting the engine.

We chatted the whole way home. Home. Even though my house was still back in England, this was my new one. I didn't know how long I would be here, but I _did _know that it wouldn't matter soon. I could still keep in contact with all my old friends, I _would_ keep in contact with my friends, there was no question. So what _really_ was the big problem? I would go back there as often as possible to see Hal and Dad; in the summer especially. Maybe it was just all the frivolous drama going on. It had hit me hard, but I was keen on recovering.


	19. Chapter 19

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 19: First Day**

"George! Oh! It's so good to _see_ you!" My Auntie Emma embraced me energetically.

"You too, Auntie Em!" I replied, hugging her back. The amount of hugs I had received and given to day was incredible.

"Here, let me take these." Uncle Matthew picked up my bags and took them through the double open doors in front of me.

"Oh, thanks, Uncle Matthew." I said gratefully, slipping off my shoes.

"I'm sure you're pretty hungry, aren't you?" Auntie Em asked.

"Actually, I ate on the plane." I nodded.

"Well, if you get peckish, just help yourself; there's all kinds of stuff in the kitchen." She laughed and I smiled, feeling unsurprisingly bashful by the sheer royalty they were treating me with.

"I've put your bags in your room, poppet. You can go and have a look if you want." Uncle Matthew smiled, a glint of excitement in his eyes.

I was excited too. Now that I was here, I couldn't wait to start living my life with my Uncle Matthew and Auntie Emma. Nothing had changed about them since the last time I saw them, except for the few slightly grey streaks in Uncle Matthew's hair.

"Yeah, I'd love to." I paused, hesitating. "Um-" I chuckled, embarrassed. "Which way is it?" I cringed, the laughter jammed in my throat, unable to escape.

Auntie Em laughed and patted me on the back, her eyes smiling with unbelievable understanding. "Here, I'll show you."

Through the double doors was a lounge-type area, which brushed off a warm atmosphere, welcoming me. It had windows all across the back wall, letting in the sparkles of sunlight, making little rainbow marks on the white wall in some places. To the left were carpeted stairs, turning us around so that we faced backwards to head up. There was light everywhere, it was so much brighter than miserable old England.

The house was even bigger than it looked from the outside. The upstairs alone was almost as big as our house back in England, never mind downstairs. I was amazed. My room had a double bed, a desk in the corner, a bay window, cupboards above the desk, a bookshelf filled with many books and a few DVD's, and a wardrobe at the end of the cupboards and the desk. It was all very light wood, and below my bed I could see two drawers underneath. This was heaven. It had to be _at least_ twice the size of my other room. But, considering m other room was tiny, this one wasn't exactly big, but still..._heaven_.

"I hope everything's OK for you." Auntie Em said, following me in.

"Oh my god! This is more than OK! Thankyou so much!" I hopped over to my bed and flopped down on it.

She laughed fully, as did Uncle Matthew. "Well, we're glad you like it."

"Your house is so lovely." I mentioned quietly.

"Make yourself at home. I'm just about to pop out to the shops so I'll see you two in a bit." She said, and walked out, a happy smile on her face.

Uncle Matthew followed her downstairs whilst I studied my room.

The bed quilt was an ocean blue with traces of lilac, and sunset purple embroidery running across a third of it. It was beautiful compared to the one I had at home. The walls were a timeless white, and the carpet was beige with a hint of sand. It felt cushiony beneath my feet, soft. I had a bedside lamp and one for my desk too. There were dark brown blinds freckled with tiny flickers of beige, and little wooden wind chimes just above the bay window.

I felt completely utterly spoilt here. _And _I felt so at ease, instead of being cautious of every move I made, there was no intimidating woman there that could anger me with just the scoff hiding behind her words.

My room was simple, yet it felt like a five star hotel. I unpacked my things, placing every item perfectly where it should be, not wanting to ruin the beautiful simplicity of the room.

I had left quite a lot of things at home, mostly stuff that I didn't need.

After sticking up a few photos of family and friends on the wall, I unpacked my laptop, sat on my bed cross legged, and set it in front of me.

I opened up my email account and clicked on the 'New' button just above the inbox.

To: shian13956

Subject: -

I started writing, piling in all things necessary and adding a few details about the house.

Hi Shian!

I know you're in school right now, but I'm writing anyway. Maybe you'll get this on your phone.

I reached Houston about four hours ago, the heat is amazing and everything is even better than I thought it'd be. I miss you all already, but I'll write as often as I can.

This house is AWESOME, maybe I can send you a pic sometime! The flight over here was long, but I slept for most of it, so...

I'm dreading one thing in particular, School. I don't know what people will think of me, but I hope to make a good impression. Haha.

Well, I got to go now, so I'll write again as soon as possible, just like I promised.

Bye, George x

We had pancetta pasta for dinner, it was delicious. After that, Uncle Matthew watched a game, and I joined him, whilst Auntie Emma finished writing her Christmas cards. That reminded me of the date, it was the fourth of December. I didn't have a clue whether I would be visiting Hal and Dad at all for Christmas, but I sincerely doubted it. Neither I or he could afford it. I would simply send them a card. No problem.

But I had never been away from them for Christmas. Ever. Tears welled up in my eyes. Luckily, Uncle Matthew had his eyes on the game, and Auntie Em was busy writing. I struggled endlessly, resolute on fighting them back, and eventually, they died down.

Wondering how many times I would see them unnerved me. I worried that I would end up growing further and further apart from them. That could never happen though. I couldn't _let_ it happen. They were too dear to me; too dear to let slip away.

I lay in bed for quite a while as time seemed to tick by slowly. I stared around my new bedroom, everything felt like it was improving, and I couldn't help myself from smiling as I studied the room over and over. Tomorrow was Friday, but I didn't have to start school until Monday; which gave me time to get used to living here. Sort of.

How would people act towards me? Would they welcome me and make me feel like less of an outsider? My laughable thoughts aroused new ones and I found it hard to get to sleep whilst thinking of how humiliating it would be to start school nearly at the start of the second term. There would only be two weeks left until the Christmas holidays, and I decided on making the best of a good impression. It would be odd though, going to school in a different country; something told me that it wouldn't be like the cheesy Disney channel schools you see on TV. No. This would be a _lot_ tougher.

I woke up Friday morning at nine. The sudden time-change had muddled me before, but it wasn't a problem now. The sun shone in brightly through the slits in the blinds, and coloured the wall a warm, yellowy-orange. I yawned and sat up, stretching my legs beneath the soft bed quilt. The whole room looked lit up by the morning sunshine. I pulled back the covers, and walked lightly over to the window. I sat down on the sill and gazed at the outside world.

Slipping on my- what looked like yeti type boot- slippers, I grabbed the blue hairbrush from my desk and untangled my eighteen inch long brown hair. Auntie Em greeted me with a pleasant, cheerful smile as I walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, honey." She said, her smile still glowing.

"Hey, Auntie Em." I smiled gleefully back.

She seemed to be chopping up fruit and putting it in a blender type mechanical thing.

"I'm making a smoothie!" She explained.

"Ah!" I nodded.

"I haven't made one in ages and so I thought I'd make one just for the two of us." Her brilliant smile met me once again. She was just so bright and upbeat. I suppose it was just a shock since I hadn't seen someone like that for a long time.

"Thanks! I love smoothies." I said.

"Don't let me keep you here! Go on through to the lounge, and I'll be there in a minute."

"OK, thanks again Auntie Em." And I didn't just mean for the smoothie.

I wandered through to the lounge, my white yeti boot slippers dragging slightly along the floor. This was the second lounge in the house, and it was even warmer than the small living area before the kitchen. This lounge had a TV, and the wall looking out into the garden was still all glass. I sat down in the big, cushiony armchair, surprised to feel it move. I put my feet down on the ground and swayed. It spun. It was a_ spinny_ armchair. Cool.

"Here you go!" Auntie Emma came through with a tray in her hands. On top of it were two glasses filled with a pinky-purple mixture. They looked good and, as I soon discovered, tasted just as good too!

"That was great, Auntie Em. Thanks." I said, tipping up my glass to get the last bit of smoothie from the bottom.

"That's okay, sweetie." She said it as if there was no need to thank her.

Once I had had breakfast, gotten dressed, washed and brushed my teeth, there was one main priority before anything else. I had to check my emails.

I hurried into my bedroom, excited to view any emails from my friends. If I _had_ any emails from my friends.

I logged on, and waited anxiously as the loading sign swirled continuously round and round in the middle of the screen. Finally, it disappeared, and I could see that beside my inbox was the number three in-between brackets. Three emails!

It was incredibly simple minded of me though. As if I would have three emails from my friends back in England. In fact, I doubted they missed me much at all. That too was stupid though, and I didn't want to think it again. Only one of the emails was from friends. The others were from Moonpig and Tesco.

I deleted the others before opening up the email from Shian.

Hi George!

We all miss you already, it's not the same without you here. :(

You bet you're going to write to us! Every day! I won't accept going even one day without an email, OK?

Here's another good thing about leaving though: you get to miss the annoying science project we got given today. It's horrible, and I'm guessing it'll take about three or four weeks. I hope you know it's going to be hell without you, and I've lost my favourite food tech partner... (now I have to go with Mandy) Ugh.

Eve, Ellenor, Carley and Tasha all want you to text them when possible, but obvs it costs, so you don't need to all the time. They miss you too, and told me to say Hi!

PLEASE tell me all about your first day at school, I can't wait to hear about it when you WRITE ON MONDAY.

Shian xxx

I couldn't help laughing whilst reading some parts of the email, and I was glad but also saddened to hear that they missed me. She had sent that yesterday at 4pm, so she ,must have checked her emails as soon as she got in. In an uncanny sort of way, I was glad that she missed me just as much as I missed her. Even in a completely different school, it was going to be weird arriving and not finding her there.

Shian,

Don't worry, I'll write telling you every single detail on Monday. Too bad about that Science Project! Haha. Just joking.

It's so different here. You can actually see the sun! WOW. I bet it's just as gloomy and miserable in England as when I left... if not worse...

I'm going out today, to the supermarket with my Auntie. I'm not exactly looking forward to Monday, but it should be quite entertaining for you to hear about.

You can be like my pen pal sort of thing. Aha.

Talk to you soon. George x

I clicked the send button and waited for the confirmation.


	20. Chapter 20

**A Story to Remember - **

**Chapter 20: New Girl**

I went to sleep Sunday night dreading the morning after.

I paced eternally around a dark, small, square room, with mirrors closing me in. The room got tighter all of a sudden. My own screams echoed around me, I was trapped. A door opened, and the rectangular frame of the door shone brightly white, blinding my eyes for a moment. As they focused and adjusted to the light, they encountered a silhouette stood in the doorway. I couldn't see any of the features of the dark human. The white shining from behind it made it look only black. A black shape against the background of lights. It took a step forward, and more of them appeared, walking out from the door, towards me. They were all different. They said nothing, just closed in on me, surrounding me until I had nowhere else to run. The room became smaller. "No!" I shouted. "Stop!" They continued to step nearer to where I was, flat against the mirror behind me. The faces of the silhouettes nearest to me showed. Shian. Eve. Ellenor. They stopped in their tracks. They stood still, only a few feet away from me, the other blank silhouettes behind them coming to a pause too. I said nothing. I _couldn't_ say anything. I didn't move. I _couldn't_ move. The faces stared hauntingly at me. They just stared. The pressure built up in my chest until I couldn't hold it in anymore. I gave a deafening scream. And that's when I woke up, gasping for air.

No one rushed to my bedside, wondering what was going on, so I assumed it had only been in my nightmare that I had actually screamed. I sighed in relief, and brushed the hair away from my forehead, breathing heavily.

How could such a silly dream affect me so much? Anyway, it was over, and that's what mattered. I glanced at my alarm clock on the bedside table. It was three o'clock in the morning. I lay back down, hoping for a better sleep this time. But for some peculiar reason, I couldn't seem to shut my eyes and drift into unconsciousness, no matter how tired I was. It took me about half an hour of turning in my bed restlessly before my eye lids began to flutter with complete exhaustion. I then sailed swiftly into an uninterrupted, peaceful sleep.

I woke again at six, when my alarm clock beeped impatiently. The nicest bit so far of having to go to school in America, was I didn't have to wear a silly uniform. I got dressed into a pair of scruffy jeans, and a red, grey and white checked shirt. The day I had arrived in Houston, it was a _big_ temperature change. But it was winter, and I wasn't stupid enough to think it would stay like that. Still, it was a lot warmer than England...so I didn't bother taking a jacket.

Uncle Matthew drove me to school. We turned off Windmill Cove Lane and headed to Cypress Falls Middle School. When we arrived, he wished me good luck and said he'd be there at half three to pick me up. Auntie Em had had a phone call telling me to come straight to the main office. The only problem was, I didn't know where that was.

I asked a couple of people nervously, and they seemed surprised by my English accent. I hoped word wouldn't get around too rapidly that there was a British new girl.

Finally, I managed to just about make it to the main office. There was a blonde haired woman behind the desk on the phone. I waited a couple of minutes and then the call ended.

"How can I help you?" She asked pleasantly.

"Erm..." I stuttered, "I'm... new here?" I said nervously.

"Oh. Of course." She said, picking up an A5 piece of paper and handing it to me.

It was my timetable, and it looked _very_ different. She helped me, though, and so I made it to first period intact.

I struggled helplessly through the morning. When people asked questions, I answered shyly, not giving too much information away. There were a couple of people who seemed to like me, and I liked them too. They were in some of my classes, so by lunch, I knew them a little better and they seemed like genuinely nice people. I sat with them for lunch, but I didn't eat anything.

"So, are you staying here for long?" Addison was her name, and at the moment, she was my favourite person yet.

"I..." I hadn't even asked myself this exact question before. "...don't know." I said slowly.

"Oh, well I can help you find your classes if you want, you know, show you around." She smiled.

"Yeah, that'd be great."

"I will too." Hayley suggested. At the moment, I found her the more loud, confident one of the two, and Addison, the more shy, reserved character.

"Thanks." I replied, grateful to have two people to save me partially from loneliness and slight embarrassment.

The day hauled on, and grew more awkward as it did. Everywhere I walked, there were more than one pair of eyes on me. I could hear words such as 'Accent', and 'New' all around as I passed through the corridors. I was glad to find Uncle Matthew waiting for me in the car park.

"So," He began, and I knew what was coming. "How was your first day?"

"Um," I thought, squinting laughably as I asked myself the exact same question. "It was OK."

"Oh, come on." He laughed. "A little more detail, please!"

"There's two people in particular that were nice to me. Their names are Addison and Haley."

"Good." I could hear a hint of relief in his voice.

We drove home, and Auntie Em was there waiting for us when we got in.

"So?" She asked, excited but slightly cringing. "How was it?"

I laughed quietly, put my bag down, and began to explain.

It was my third day at school, and I was still extremely nervous, but I had adjusted slightly, quicker than I thought I would.

"Hey." I greeted her back. She was one of the only friends that didn't pretend even a little bit around me.

"I'm in first class with you, Geology!" She smiled.

"Great!" It was good to know I wouldn't be completely alone whilst everyone else shared the latest news and talked.

We sat at lunch together. She talked about a new article she was writing for the school newsletter, and I smiled and nodded along at her ideas. I meant to listen, but I just somehow managed to zone out whilst studying the other people dotted around the cafeteria tables.

"So they might let me do an athletics column just this once... about the hockey match next Monday or something." She continued.

I turned my concentration back to her, my fingers still gripped around the empty juice bottle I had bought.

"Sorry, I'm probably boring you to death." She said, nibbling at the muffin she held.

"No! No you're not." I insisted, feeling bad for being so unintentionally ignorant.

By Friday, I had already memorized a lot of the faces from my year. There were some I didn't know, but I decided that I probably would never need to talk to them, so there wasn't any desire for finding out who they were.

There was however, one particular group that I was eminently interested in. There were four of them. They stayed in the same place every lunch inside the cafeteria, and I felt an awful longing to seek their identities. They all seemed to be around the same height, with black hair and beautiful bronze skin. They didn't look at all concerned about how they appeared to others, and my eyes always fell over them as I sat at the same table every lunch with Addison, Hayley, and a few other guys. I didn't know what it was about them that was so intriguing and made me feel so anxious to meet them, but it had a strong hold over me.

"Hey, Addison?" I asked when she had finished her previous conversation with the others.

She smiled at me. "Yeah?"

"Would you say you know most of the people in this cafeteria?" I went on.

"Erm, yes, probably." She gazed around for a few seconds. "_Most_ of them."

I nodded. "Do you know those guys?" I turned my head around in the direction where they were stood.

"Oh." She was surprised to see my interest in them. Obviously, not a lot of people bothered with those boys. "Yeah. That's Leon- on the left, Neel- left middle, Aubree- right middle, and Raul on the right. And there's Emery walking over to them now."

"Oh, cool." I said casually, still watching the five boys across the cafeteria.

They were completely different to anyone else in the whole place. They wore cut-off shorts, ragged and worn at the ends. T-shirts-some of them sleeveless- which were completely plain, most of the time grey or black. Their shoes looked like they had been used for more than a few long years, and their bronze, golden skin seemed to stand out brilliantly with its golden shine. But how could this be so when everyone else seemed to treat them as lower, and stay away from them? Sure, they might be a little different, but there wasn't much that I knew of them that I could judge them by. They didn't look like they were the type to mingle though either, and they seemed pretty concealed. Which made me all the more curious...


	21. Chapter 21

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 21: Fitting In **

Wednesday 17th December.

There seemed to be a few more people that I didn't know. In my second week here, four others came into the school, they weren't new, at least, not to anyone else here.

I hadn't actually been introduced to them, but not many other people hung around them. They were different. But, unlike the four boys I had seen the other day, they were different for less noticeable reasons. I couldn't put it into words; somehow, there was a little warning inside my head that told me to keep away from them, yet I still felt the unexplainable compulsion to walk over to them and introduce myself. Weird.

I was still the new girl. Nothing changed there. Some people continued to mock my accent when I passed them in the corridors, but not that that mattered to me... none of it did. And even if it were to bother me, what choice did I have but to ignore it?

I was a good student. All my homework done on time, mostly good grades, and I didn't talk much in class. With Addison there, I would chat to her often, but in the classes where I had few or no people that I was even remotely comfortable with, I kept silent. Teachers were welcoming, but that meant nothing to me. To be honest, neither did the fact that most people preferred not to be friends with me. I can understand... I'm not exactly the most interesting person.

I wouldn't say I was lonely, well, even if I was, I didn't entirely mind. I sometimes wondered how everything was at home. How Hal was coping, how Dad was coping. I missed them, and that was a complete understatement.

"Hey!" Jay ambled over to me. He was a friend, a good friend. In fact, there was sort of a group of us, but only some of them were really my friends.

"Hey!" I responded, placing my book down on the lunch table, the frayed edges of the pages closing together.

He sat down beside me, studying the cover of the book. "W-a-r..." He twisted his head comically, straining to read the other word. "...Ho-rse." He finished. "Cool."

I laughed, feeling the tattered pages with my fingertips. "Thanks."

"So, you ok?" I could hear more meaning behind the words, as if he thought something was wrong.

I turned my head to face him. "Yeah." I smiled. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, I mean..." He smiled back, "Are you finding it okay here?"

"Yeah, I like it." I nodded, fiddling with the tattered edges of the book once again.

"Good." His smile didn't end.

Friday 19th.

After school, me, Addison, Hayley, Jay and Rick went to Lake Houston. We sat by the side of the lake with slushies and sandwiches; sort of like a picnic. We had taken the bus there and Hayley had arranged for her Mum to pick us up in their seven seater. It was fun, and I got a chance to talk to my new friends without the people who didn't seem to like me much lingering about.

The weather was warm and cloudy. And this was supposed to be getting into winter. I suppose I was just used to the horrible English weather that we had around winter.

Rick suggested that we come here in Spring next year to hire out a small boat, and I was all for that idea, as were the others. Hayley's Mum came at half five to pick us up. Addison was the first to be dropped off, then Rick, then Jay, and then me. It was the first time I had actually been out with my friends except for going to the cafe with everyone on Tuesday. Thinking of my friends reminded me of my old ones. I felt a little guilty for calling them 'old', as if they were in the past, but soon convinced myself that it was just a term of phrase.

When I got home, Uncle Matthew greeted me and told me that Auntie Em had gone to a friend's house.

"How was your trip to the lake?" He asked, wanting to take an interest in my activities.

"Great. It was good to see them one last time in case I don't see them before next term." I replied, pouring myself some apple juice.

"Yeah, Christmas hols now!" He grinned, excited.

I laughed and shook my head.

Shian,

Sorry I haven't written since Tuesday, I've had a lot of schoolwork. I hope everyone over there is okay. I know you will _tell me_ if anything _isn't_! Haha.

Do me a favour and say hi to everyone, it's easier just writing to you and passing messages along. By the way, that science question you asked me... I found the answer: Potassium Nitrate. Sorry if I'm too late.

I've made friends, which is good since I don't really fit in too well with the accent and everything. It's not that bad though anymore, I think most people are used to it by now.

Anyway, I've got Algebra homework, so I'll write as soon as I can tomorrow.

Bye, George x

I logged off and shut the lid of my laptop. Glaring up at the little shiny clock on my wall, I noticed it was seven o'clock. I trudged downstairs and walked through to the kitchen.

"Sorry, dinner's late, I had to go down to the shop for potatoes." Uncle Matthew closed the oven door, wafting the sudden rush of hot air away from his face with the oven gloves.

"What is it?" I purposely looked warily into the oven.

"Ha ha." He laughed sarcastically. "Mini steaks, with chips and peas."

"Nice." I nodded, impressed.

"One day, I'll show you how great a cook I am!"

"I know you're a good cook, I just thought I could smell something funny." I turned up my nose and he shoved me gently.

"Go on, get out of here!" He laughed, and I sauntered away, grinning.

We ate in the lounge with our dinner on our knees; Uncle Matthew taking the opportunity by using the excuse of Auntie Em being out for the night. We watched the news and then the highlights of a football game before finally getting up to clean our dishes.

I washed up, ignoring Uncle Matthews insistence of doing it himself. I was just drying my hands when the doorbell rang. I assumed it was Auntie Em back from the restaurant, and I slid across the hard hall floor to open it.

There was no one there. Just empty space. I took one final look and then was about to close the door when I was nearly given a heart attack.

He jumped out from behind the front of the house, landing in front of me. It took me a second to regain my breath, and then I slammed the door shut in his face. Anger flushed red in my cheeks, and then I realised I was being stupid. I think it was just the loud 'BOO!' That had gotten me most. I opened the door slowly, sighing when I saw him pulling a pouty face.

"That's nice." He said, losing the pouty face, and putting his hands on his hips. "I come here to surprise you and all I get is a door in my face!"

I grinned, staring deep into his blue-green eyes. "You...Idiot." I shook my head.

"Thanks, George. Real sweet of you." He picked up his bags, stepping past me to enter the house.

"I never said you could come in." I tried keeping a straight face. Luckily, he wasn't looking at me to see my failed attempt.

"Yeah, yeah." He said, walking through the kitchen and to the double doors leading into the back lounge.

I shut the door and followed.

"Will!" I could hear Uncle Matthews surprised voice. "It's good to see you, Pal." He said, patting his nephew on the back as he hugged him.

"My turn." I said, when they had finished.

Will turned to me, nearly lifting me off the ground as he hugged me tightly. It must have been over a month since I had last seen him. Though it felt like a hundred.

"I'm here for Christmas." He whispered, still hugging me firmly. "I spoke to Dad, and he said Hal was okay with it."

I sighed with relief. I didn't think I could take another goodbye so soon, from Will especially. I didn't need to say anything, he knew how grateful I was.

Christmas Day.

I woke up at half seven, and Will got up shortly after. We headed downstairs to find Uncle Matthew and Auntie Emma already there, in the kitchen.

"Merry Christmas." She hugged me, and then Will, smiling so that her eyes sparkled.

"Merry Christmas!" We replied together.

"Want to come through to the lounge?" Uncle Matthew hinted, a trace of secretive excitement in his voice.

We all walked through, to see the lit up Christmas tree, golden and red tinsel winding under and over the branches where the baubles hung. Under it were quite a lot of presents. I shot a warning look at Uncle Matt. He grinned and nodded towards the bottom of the tree.

We must have sat there for at least an hour, opening the presents, reading the tags and passing them to the right person. We laughed and read all the cards aloud, listening silently to the words.

Dad and Hal sent a card, one to Uncle Matt and Auntie Em, one to Will, and one especially for me.

Dear George,

Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful time!

We hope you're settling in OK. Sorry we can't be there with you but maybe the ten pound note stuck to the back of the card will cheer you up!

We'll try and see you as soon as possible, but for now, just enjoy your day! You really do deserve it,

All our love,

Dad xxx

Hal xxx

Just reading the darn card brought tears to the brims of my eyes, but what tipped them that little bit over the edge was hearing Will read out his.

"Dear Will, Merry Christmas, we may not see you an awful lot but you're always in our thoughts. Take the first chance you get to come home, we miss you so much. Good luck flying, all our love, Dad and Hal." He looked up and smiled after the last words.

"That's lovely." Auntie Em said, Will passing her the card so she could see it.

Dinner came quicker than I expected, and I was sad to see it over so soon. We listened to the Christmas charts, watched a couple of old films and then played games for the rest of the night. It wasn't until about two o'clock in the morning that I went to bed, too tired to possibly stay up any longer.

I woke up the next day, Boxing Day, at half nine. I couldn't find any reasons to lie in bed, and so I unwillingly forced myself up. Downstairs, the lounge floor was still layered with red, gold and silver wrappers, the Christmas tree lights still lighting up the room more than the dim sunlight sliding through the windows.

I scrunched the wrappers up two at a time, walking back and forth to put them in the bin.

"What are you doing?" Uncle Matthews voice startled me, but not enough to make me jump.

"Just, clearing up." I smiled widely, and returned to work.

"No, leave that to me." He waved his hand, shaking his head. He looked tired.

"I'm fine doing it, there's not even that many anymore."

Ignoring my words, he started picking up some of the wrappers and dropping them in the bin. "Honestly, George, you're a blessing."

Though I felt good for being called 'a blessing', I was able to unearth the confusion hidden behind it. "I just don't want to feel too much like a guest."

He sighed, a small laugh building. I threw the silver paper crumpled in my hands at the back of his head. The laugh escaped from his mouth and he turned around. "What?"

"Listen!" I nagged. "I don't want any special treatment, okay?"

He sighed, and I waited for him to give up. "Fine." He turned again to put the paper in the bin, but stopped at ninety degrees. "It's just nice to have you here." He smiled and then carried on.

"So," Will yawned. "what's on the menu?" He said sarcastically.

"Definitely not turkey..." Uncle Matt groaned. "I still haven't recovered from last night." He patted his stomach and groaned again.

"I don't think I'll be eating anything for a while." Auntie Emma said, entering the kitchen.

Will left just three days before new year's eve. It was unfortunate timing, but he had to go. The few days before school started again, I rushed through the piles of homework I had left for last minute. Luckily, it didn't take long, and I wasn't given a detention for anything.

It was about five days before I noticed anyone was missing. The group of boys I had once seen in the cafeteria were gone. They hadn't even shown up on the first day back. _Maybe they're on holiday._ I thought. There weren't many other reasons for skipping the first week of term.

"God, will you stop searching for them already? They're not here... sometimes they just, skip school for no reason, Kay?" Hayley was obviously fed up of my non-stop glances over to where they always stood. "Why are you so obsessed with them? I mean, you don't even know them..."

"I just..." I trailed off, resuming to my previously abandoned thoughts.

"Hey!" Hayley called, waving her hand in front of my face. "Honestly, if you're so interested, go and meet them for crying out loud." She went back to filing her nails.

Meet them? I don't think so. It would be too... stupid. Going over to a group of rough-tough boys and saying something embarrassing like: "Hey, I'm the new girl, well not so new, George. I sort of stare at you from the other side of the cafeteria, and I was wondering, could I say hi?" No. That wasn't an option.

I shook my head silently and dismissed the conversation.

I was heading over to the car park after last period with Addison and Jay, when there was shouting and screaming coming from the other side of the lot.

"What the?" Addison said, turning towards where all the commotion was.

We speed-walked over to the crowd of people, trying to peep through the small gaps. A teacher came over before we could get any closer, and some of the people backed away.

"Go! All of you! Go home!" The teacher shouted, waving us off with a frustrated face.

"Haven't you heard about it yet?" Hayley said meaningly the next day when we were sat outside at lunch.

"What?"

"This guy called Luke Zane started a fight with Tray Holmes over his girlfriend, and it ended up with Luke getting so mad that he stabbed Tray..." Her eyes widened, "...With a pen knife! I mean, I don't see why they were so bothered over Katie Mansley. She's not even that pretty." She said that last sentence quietly. I could almost see the jealousy bouncing off her words.

"Is he okay? Tray, I mean." I tried to show interest, and I was shocked about the whole knife and stabbing thing, but I could tell that wasn't what _Hayley_ wanted to talk about.

"Yeah, it was only in the arm, not even that deep. Apparently. But seriously, over Katie Mansley..." I stopped listening as soon as she started her essay long gossip about a girl I didn't even know.

It was all very dramatic, and to be totally honest I was more interested in my biology homework. I'm sure that for everybody else it was all very shocking and strange, and it was for me, but the amount of news that I watched every day sort of made it a lesser problem than the rest in the world.

"I mean, it's ok to wear makeup and everything, every girl does..."

"I don't." I mumbled under my breath.

"...but she just_ piles_ it on. You could literally _scrape_ handfuls of it off her face." She carried on. I zoned out again, putting in my headphones to listen to the many songs I had stored on my little phone.


	22. Chapter 22

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 22: Burning**

It was just so embarrassing.

I could feel my cheeks suddenly burning red in a flush of realisation.

He was staring back at me. Soon, they all were.

The five boys eyes studied me, glinting with humour. _They _found it funny.

I turned away quickly, ducking my head and letting my hair hide my scarlet cheeks. Well, they certainly _felt_ hot.

I let my eyes slip to the side in a quick glance, only to see the five boys walking over to me casually, their faces gleaming with laughter.

Crap.

I hid my face once again, grabbing Addison's math book and pretending to read it. But I was too late.

"Hi." One of the boys said, staring down at me. I looked up, trying to remember the names. Neel.

"H-" I stuttered, coughing to clear my dry throat. "Hi."

"We couldn't help but notice you... staring at us... and we just wanted to find out who you are." Raul. This one was Raul. It wasn't a question, though I think he meant it to be.

"Oh, uh, I'm..." My eyes flickered over to the boy stood behind. He seemed reluctant to be here, near me. Luckily, he was looking elsewhere, and didn't catch my gaze. "George."

"George." Neel repeated, and I focused my eyes back on them. "Well, it's nice to meet you."

"Yeah," Raul butted in. "We've seen you around, but didn't actually know who the hell you were." He laughed his words.

I laughed shortly. "What about you guys then." I said, somehow finding the confidence enough to ask them who they were. Only, I already knew. But it would seem a bit creepy if I told them their own names.

"I'm Neel, " He grinned. "This is Raul," He pointed, "Aubree, Leon, and..." He searched behind him. "Emery."

"Hi." The others murmured.

The burning in my cheeks faded, and I found myself more comfortable. "How long have you been here?"

"A year." Aubree said. "We moved here about... a year and a half ago."

"Cool." My voice spoke quietly.

"We live on the small reservation about ten miles from here." Neel said.

"Bit of a trek to school then." I grinned weakly.

"Yeah."

"Great, can we go now." Emery whispered to Neel, meaning for me not to hear.

Neel gave him an annoyed look, as if he had ruined his chance of making friends with the new girl.

"Well," I interrupted, feeling bad. "I've got to go. Maybe I'll see you around." I picked up my rucksack.

Raul laughed. "You will." I decided to take that as just a casual end of the conversation, but no matter how hard I tried to forget about it, it bothered me, as if he meant something more.

The next day, the school gave out new timetables. A lot of people were angry with the new classes when some of them found that they were no longer to be with their friends. Thankfully, I still had Addison in most classes, and in some, Hayley.

As I made my way through the door in Art, last period, I saw one person sat at a table by the window, staring out through the mucky glass. Bronze skin, dark hair...Emery. It was awkward just being in the same room with him, it already felt like he disliked me. But when Miss told me where I would be working, I had no choice but to tread unwillingly over to the table where I would be seated.

He looked up at me slowly, realising who I was with surprise. Maybe he usually sat alone. I smiled, and he smiled back, much to _my _surprise.

Occasionally, I glanced over to view his work. It was amazing. There was a tree, surrounded by fallen leaves, it's bare branches stretching out, reaching for me. The pencil lines were soft, but incredibly detailed.

It was about twenty minutes after Miss had stopped blabbering on that either of us spoke. He gazed over at my work, studying it for about five minutes. I wondered what he was thinking. My silly drawings were probably laughable.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted yesterday." He said, his eyes still fixed on the paper in front of me.

I looked over to him. "That's okay. Sorry for sort of staring at you every day."

"That's okay." He copied. "Your drawings..." He nodded towards my work. "...They're beautiful."

I wasn't expecting him to say that. Especially since I thought he didn't like me, and now he was complimenting my work... Kay.

"Oh. Thanks."

He sighed, still gazing at my work as if it was an orange sunset on the beach, as if he could stare out at the ocean like it never ended. It was just a 2D piece of paper with a tree on it though.

He smiled silently. "Guess you get that a lot, huh?"

I grinned weakly. "No." I leaned my head to the side, confused at what was so interesting. "I don't see it."

"How?" He looked at me for the first time, and sighed again. "Maybe it's because you're the artist." He shook his head, grinning.

"It must be..." I picked up his piece of paper, showing it to him. "...Because yours is _way _better." I smiled, and he took the piece of paper from my hand, a small laugh escaping his mouth.

We argued for quite a while over who's was best, coming up with different reasons of why every two minutes. One of his was that my trees were more detailed and more realistic; of course, I didn't agree and we argued over that point until the end of the lesson.

Despite the fact that it had started terribly, and more than embarrassingly awkwardly, I enjoyed it. I felt like I fitted in more. Not with the school. With their group.

"Hey. How was school today?" Uncle Matthew said as I walked through the front door.

"Better." I dumped my bag in the little spot next to the door where I always did.

"Better? Good." He smiled. "And why is that?"

"I...met some new people." I opened the fridge, only to close it not knowing why I had opened it in the first place.

"Oh yeah? Who?" He turned around, leaning against the kitchen counter.

"A guy called Emery. And his...friends."

"Emery Riverson?" He asked, taking a sip of juice from the glass he was holding.

"Uh..." I thought for a moment. I didn't actually _know_ his last name. "I'm...not sure. But how many other Emerys can there be in one school?"

"Yeah, lives on the little reservation not far from here. They moved here about, hmm, must have been about a year, year and a half ago? Nice people." He nodded, taking another sip.

"Yeah." I agreed. "Nice people."

I thought over what Aubree had said in the cafeteria the other day. 'You will'. It was most probably just something he said like a goodbye or something. But still, it troubled me. I just couldn't let it go.

"So...are you enjoying your new 'Art buddy'?" Addison joked, meaningly winking at me.

I punched her gently on the arm. "Shutup." I think all the American accents were wearing off on me, I could hear my voice slightly changing.

She laughed, putting away her Biology book. "I think that's enough revision for one day. Ugh, tests."

"I know." I agreed, my voice more gloomy than before.

"Well, speak of the devil." Her head turned to me, he mouth open in exaggeration.

I looked ahead of us, spotting the joyful looking Emery walking towards the wooden table we were sat on outside.

"Hi." He said, sitting down beside me on the bench below. Though he looked an unusual happy, his voice was heavy, he sighed.

"Hi." I replied, puzzled as to why he had come over here. "Aren't you hanging out with your friends, or, cousins?"

"Nah. They're all teasing me." His expression was no longer a smile.

"Do you mind me asking why?"

"It's nothing to do with the fact that I sit next to you, if that's what you're thinking." He said it like it was typical of me to think that.

"What _is _the reason then?" The corners of my mouth curled up into a tiny cringe, wondering if I was going to deep, whether he didn't want these enquiries bothering him.

"It doesn't matter." He didn't seem annoyed by my curiosity, so I didn't think much of it.

"Ok."

"Have you ever felt like..._more_ is expected of you than you can manage?" He asked unexpectedly.

I didn't know whether to answer or to let him continue. He looked up at me, waiting.

"Am I supposed to answer that?"

"Yeah."

"Great." I thought into his question. "Yes..._some_times."

"Good."

What? "_Thanks_?" I half laughed.

"No, I didn't mean it like that." He struggled to explain. "I mean, at least I'm not alone."

"Alone? And why would you be alone? Most people probably feel like that. Like if someone got a math question, and the teacher told them that they should be able to get the answer, but they couldn't. Nothing new, happens every day." I shrugged.

"Yeah, but, this is something big. I just can't put it into words; I don't even know what it is."

"Maybe when you _find out_ you'll be able to fill their expectations." I slid off the table top, grabbing my rucksack. "I'm guessing it's your little gang, right?"

He nodded.

"Well, I'll see you in Art." I smiled, and walked away, noticing that Addison was already gone.


	23. Chapter 23

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 23: Closed**

28th February.

I decided to start walking to school. It was costing Uncle Matthew more than enough money on fuel, and I needed the extra exercise, though I already started running track for school every Tuesday and Thursday.

I was walking up to the gate, just another school morning, when Emery grabbed my arm.

"Ow. What?" His grip tightened, pulling me along. "Emery, where are we going?" I tried to loosen his grip with my other hand, but again, it only constricted me further.

"Come with me." He said, short and snappy.

"Do I have a choice?" I sighed.

We walked, well, _I _stumbled down the side of the road, passing by the other students happily treading on towards the school. Most of them stared with weirded expressions. Some people didn't like me purely for the fact I hung out with Emery.

"Seriously, Emery. You can let go... I'm not going anywhere."

He gave an apologetic look. "Sorry." He continued to walk briskly along, and I followed, trying to avoid the glares people were giving me, us.

"Are you _going_ to tell me where we're going?" The groups of other students began to reach an end, and there were only a few more people I could see walking in the opposite direction to us.

"Just, wait." He carried on, but then stopped in a sharp, sudden movement. "You don't exactly... care about missing about two hours of school, do you?" He cringed, as if his plans for the day might end right here.

"All the better. But, I'm only coming if you tell me _why_ I'm missing a whole two hours of my important academic education." So that last bit was sarcastic.

"I want to take you somewhere." His answer wasn't as specific as I would've liked. I already knew that much.

I sighed, giving up.

We walked past a black, rusty truck. And then I stopped, looking up to find Emery stood next to the driver's side door. He looked at me, waiting. "Well," He said. "Get in."

"What?" I breathed, feeling tired, not expecting anything exciting to happen.

"Get in." He pointed his hand in the direction of the passenger seat.

"Where's the chauffeur?" I joked, not taking him seriously.

"He's already here, now hurry."

"Funny." My face went cold. "Emery; you can't drive that car."

"Yes I can."

"Not legally."

"That doesn't matter."

"So I'm guessing the laws for driving in this country are completely different to England's?"

"Not exactly."

"Well then I'm not getting in." I shook my head, folding my arms across my chest in almost a sulky manner.

"It's perfectly safe!" He protested.

"You're only fifteen."

"Doesn't mean I can't drive."

"Shutup and stop messing about."

"I'm not."

"Ugh." I brushed my hair back with my hands, frustrated. "I'm going back."

"Why?"

"Because this is pointless."

"What? Just because I don't have a licence?"

"Yes."

"Oh come on... don't be such a sissy."

"Emery, it's for your own good. If you get caught without a licence-"

"I'm not going to get caught without a licence!" He interrupted, pleading.

"Honestly, Emery. You never cease to amaze me." I opened the passenger door and slid in, looking up just in time to see his victory face.

He drove pretty recklessly, but I wasn't scared by it, so I didn't comment. We came to a road that I remembered about half an hour later. It seemed quite familiar, and I guessed where we were.

"The lake?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"What's so special about the lake that you had to drag me all the way over here."

"You're very impatient, aren't you."

"Only when I need to be."

He took us to a little boat, and without any questions, I got in. I couldn't be bothered wasting my voice over and over just to be told to 'wait'.

"See that sort of mini island over there?" He asked, trying to make his voice loud over the propeller of the boat.

I nodded.

"That's where I want to go."

I sighed, but he didn't hear.

We were about six metres away from the dry land, when he stopped the boat. "Here we are." He said cheerfully.

He hopped out of the small, white boat and into the water, which came up to his knees.

I looked at him, annoyed. "You couldn't have warned me and told me to wear shorts or something?"

"Stop moaning."

"Jeans take a while to dry."

"The sun's out. Now come on."

"Don't know why you're being so pushy." I mumbled, hopping out of the boat, immediately feeling the water soaking up in my jeans.

He dropped a thin pole into the water, digging it into the sand below to hold the boat.

"I still don't know why we're here, Emery." I sighed, becoming frustrated with his secrecy.

"Because I didn't know who else to tell." He turned around, his eyes smiling, though his lips were slapped into a straight line, not even curling up the slightest bit at the edges.

I studied him back, curious.

"Is this a serious matter? You haven't found like, a hidden body or anything?"

"Shutup." He shoved me jokingly, with more force than I think he meant to, and I fell backwards into a puddle of muddy water.

He immediately started laughing, whilst I sat unmoving, soaked, in the big puddle.

After about ten seconds, I stood up, and kicked some of the water at him with my foot, splashing blotches of his light grey T-shirt.

"What do you think you're playing at!" My tone was furious, though I was starting to see the funny side. "These are new..." I moaned, half laughing.

"Okay, I'm sorry, really, I am. But that was just hilarious."

"Emery! For God's sake tell me what I'm doing here!"

"Follow me." His voice still quivered with giggles.

We came to a small clearing between some of the trees and he walked quickly into the middle. I stood silently at the edge, waiting for the big surprise.

"You need to take this seriously now." He called, grasping my attention. His voice was shrill, very slow and careful all of a sudden.

I worried for a moment, wondering why he was so cautious as he stood bang in the middle of the small, dry patch of ground.

He signalled for me to come over to him, and I began to walk towards him, my arms wrapped around my sweater, hugging my body. His mood had changed, and now so had mine. Though it had been warm before, I felt all at once cold.

Once I had reached him, he gently placed both his hands on my shoulders, and moved me closer, so that his lips were next to my ear. I could feel his hands slightly shaking, sending tremors down my spine. I could feel his breath on my neck, uneven and hushed.

"I fear you're the only person I can tell." He whispered.

_I'm here._ I meant to speak it, but the words didn't exist except in my own mind.

"I'm a werewolf." He breathed.

I stepped back, staring him hard in the eyes as his hands slowly drooped down from my shoulders. I turned to walk away, to leave him in the middle of the clearing. After about five minutes I came to the edge of the small island, he showed from the trees a little while after me.

"You're taking this... quite well." He rubbed his forehead, surprised.

"Have you been reading vampire and werewolves books?" I kept my back to him.

"Huh?"

"You dragged me all the way out here to make a stupid joke!"

He laughed a small, secluded laugh.

"It's not funny! You had me worried. I thought something serious had happened, like, I dunno, someone died or something." I stomped through the water over to the boat, pulling out the pole angrily.

He followed, taking it out of my hands, probably so that I wouldn't hit him with it.

He sighed, his eyes sad, but then smiled weakly.

I got into the boat and sat sulkily on the wooden bench as he started up the engine.

I was home in about an hour. Instead of going back to school, I told Emery to take me straight there. He walked me to the door, his face still quite depressed.

"Sorry I didn't take your joke so lightly." I apologized for my being cross, though I was still annoyed.

He laughed quickly. "That's OK, I should've known you weren't one for that sort of humour." He turned away, and I felt guilty.

As he opened the car door, I shouted over to him, trying to lighten his mood, feeling sorry. _And _missing the usually happy Emery. "For crying out loud, Emery... Get a license!"

He smiled, shaking his head, and drove off.

Uncle Matthew got a phone call from school, and I was forced to explain where I was the whole day.

"Well, George... You're lucky your Auntie Em's not here. I'm not one to be mad at this sort of thing, but I don't think she would be particularly happy. I would have thought you'd be scared of getting into trouble." He grinned.

"I'm not one to bow out, though." I sat down on the sofa. "Besides, it was only one day."

"Yeah. One day. It better not become a daily routine; 'cause if it does, you're in deep...water." He laughed.

"You really think she'll be that mad?" I cringed, viewing the consequences in my mind.

"If you tell her."

"You don't think I should?" My voice sounded stupid with the amount of surprise it contained.

"Maybe we could let it slip just this once." He winked, turning back to the TV.

When Auntie Emma returned from her evening shop for a last minute dinner, I acted completely normal, relying on Uncle Matt...hoping he wouldn't accidentally tell on me.

The next day, I saw Emery waiting by the school gate patiently. It was a warm day, so I wore my rough, baggy jeans and a vest top covered by a half-buttoned up red and purple tartan shirt.

"Hey."

"Hey." He replied, seemingly concentrating on something entirely different.

I followed the tracks of his eyes, but saw nothing particularly interesting. "Hellooo?" I waved my hand in front of his gaze.

"Hey." He repeated absentmindedly, and then turned his head to face me.

"Watcha looking at?" I asked, taking one more glance over to the other side of the road. Again, the only thing in sight was a narrow pathway.

"Doesn't matter." He smiled and began to walk up the steps behind him.

"Kay. We have an Art exam today, you know." I warned, in case he hadn't remembered.

"Really?" He groaned. "Oh the joy."

I grinned and followed as he walked through the gate.

"George!" Addison called, walking over. "Where were you yesterday? I thought I saw you, but then you weren't in chemistry."

"Oh. Yeah, I had to go home. Felt ill." I nodded, trying to make the lie more realistic.

"Okay. Well, don't ditch me again." She joked, smiling. "I had to do a practical by myself,-"

"It wasn't pretty." Hayley intervened, finishing off Addison's sentence more or less.

"Sorry. Won't happen again." I checked behind me for Emery, but he was gone.

He wasn't in Geology... or Art. He didn't show up the next day either.

I wondered if it was something to do with the little joke he played the other day, but then cancelled that out. He may have been a little upset by my lack of humour, but he wasn't that touchy.

"Something bothering you?" Jay asked at lunch the fourth day Emery hadn't shown up.

"No." I smiled, lying.

"You seem...distracted." His brow creased, signalling that he really cared.

"No, not really." I smiled again, sealing the deal.

"Ok." He didn't seem convinced.

Hayley's birthday was in January, she said she was going to have a late birthday party though, so that same lunch, she handed out the invitations.

"I was going to invite more people, but, my mom doesn't want like, loads of people, so it's just a few." She explained, as she passed us our invites.

"How much is a few?" Rick's suspicious tone made everyone look up from the pieces of card they were holding.

"Well, I don't know if they're all coming or not, do I? So, who knows?" Hayley replied, hiding the truth as if we would all turn down the invitation if we knew how many people were _really_ going.

"No need to bite my head off, I was only asking." Rick said quietly.

"Oh my god! Twenty-five, Okay! Twenty-five people, that's all!" Hayley shouted, directly at Rick, slamming the rest of the pink cards with fancy writing on the table.

"Twenty-five?" Addison cringed.

"My house is big." Hayley defended.

"Still..." Jay interrupted.

"Well, I'm not sure if I can even come, so, that'll be one less person for you to handle." I smiled, and Hayley turned to me suddenly in alarm.

"You have to." She said shortly, blinking twice expectedly at the end. "You can't _not come_." There was a long silence. "I need you guys' help to clean up afterwards."

"Ah..." We all sighed, realising our purpose.

"Jee, Hayley, that's real considerate of you." Jay laughed, his sarcasm splitting the silence.

"Well, my Mom will go mad if she comes home to find the house in the state of a junk-yard."

We all agreed to go and help out on the condition that she treated us each like royalty for the week after.

"So, I'll pick you up at six-fifteen. Then we'll be at Hayley's for six-thirty." Addison concluded as we came to the point on our walk home where we went our separate ways.

"OK. See you then!" I waved, turning to walk away.

"Remember she wants you to wear heels!" She warned, crossing the road.

"I'm fourteen!" I reminded her, laughing as I shouted.


	24. Chapter 24

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 24: Party**

"Hey!" Hayley greeted us excitedly as she opened the door to her house.

"Hey." Me and Addison answered.

Hayley immediately glanced down at my shoes. "I wanted you to wear heels." She sulked, putting on a pouty face.

"These are heels...just, very small ones." I grinned.

"Looks like you've already got a house full of people." Addison said, peeping past Hayley.

"Yeah, well, most are here, there's just about eight more I'm expecting."

We stepped in and I took off my cardigan. "Where should I put this?"

"Here, I'll take it." Hayley said, strutting off into a room to our right in her bright red heels, which matched her dress.

The party was extremely awkward at some points. People who I hardly knew tried starting conversation, but I was shy and they soon went back to dancing with their other friends, leaving me and Addison uncomfortably stood at the edge of the big lounge.

"Hi, Hayley, listen I'm sorry I'm late." I heard Jay's voice apologize.

"Yeah, got stuck in traffic." Was Rick's excuse.

They came into the lounge, and straight away, Rick was on the dance floor. Jay, however, spotted us and sauntered over, hands in his suit pockets.

"Bit much for a fifteen-year-old's party, don't you think?" He tried to make his voice loud over the music.

I nodded, squinting to see his face in the dark. His eyes laughed.

Even more people arrived after that, more than eight, I was sure. Talking to other people didn't get any less difficult, so I tried to stay clear of the ones I didn't really know. By the time it was eight o'clock, it felt like ten; by the time it was nine o'clock, it felt like eleven. I went to sit on the porch step for some air, but it was taken, so I had no other choice but to return to the noisy, music-blasting rooms. I searched in the kitchen for Hayley; and saw her rooting in the fridge.

She noticed me and closed the silver doors. "We're all out of lemonade, so there goes the mocktails..." She obviously wasn't expecting everyone to demand drinks every few minutes.

As I looked at her frustrated, saddened face, I couldn't help but feel sorry. "Well, I could go down to the shop?"

"What?" Her head lifted. "No, I wouldn't want you to have to go through all that trouble for me."

"It's not that bad. The walk's only about a quarter-mile." I reassured myself more than her.

"Are you sure?" She asked warily.

"I need some fresh air anyway." I walked into the cloak room to get my cardigan, only to find an overwhelmingly large heap of cloaks and jackets. I stared down at my blue-green dress, bare arms. _It's Houston, not cold, remember?_ I tapped my forehead, punishing my dumbness.

"Here's the money, do you think ten bucks will be enough for four bottles?" Hayley handed out a note to me, waving it when I didn't take it from her.

"I'll pay, don't worry." I slipped past her.

"It's my party!"

"Exactly." I shrugged.

"George!" She scolded, handing out the note once again.

I took it reluctantly, and stepped out the front door, tip-toeing around the boy and girl sat on the step.

It only took about seven minutes to get to the little shop. I came out with four lemonade bottles in the two bags I now carried, but, afraid they would split, I decided to lift them in my arms. Luckily, it was twenty past nine, and I wasn't wearing heels... which meant that there weren't many people that could witness me stumbling down the street.

"Sorry." I blurted as I clumsily pushed through the crowds of people that had now moved through to the hall. "Did _more people arrive_?" I asked Hayley, gasping for air as I finally got through to the kitchen.

"Yeah, at least I know them though." She nodded, looking into the two bags. "Thankyou _so_ much for going down. This'll probably last another hour." She beamed.

"An hour? That's it?" I breathed, letting down my hair from the ponytail I had scraped it back into before the party. "Man, these guys must be _ani_mals!"

She laughed and we both picked up two bottles each to store them in the fridge.

"How long do you think you'll keep the party going on?" I asked, lifting the last bottle onto the top shelf.

"Dunno, maybe twelve?" She shrugged.

_Twelve?_ I thought. "Great."

At eleven o'clock, I knew I was getting tired simply because I could feel my legs slowly crumbling. I had been stood up the whole time, all the sofa's were taken, and the only place other to sit would be the floor. Which just wasn't an option at a party. Rick was off dancing to thumping music which I knew would give most adults a head-ache, and Addison had found a group of girl's that she could converse with. Throughout the midst of the crowd, I couldn't manage to see Addison, so I gave up soon on finding her. The only real person left I was comfortable with other than Hayley was Jay, which when searching all the rooms downstairs, I couldn't find.

"God, I need some air." I said to myself, in a volume that would normally be considered loud in an average conversation.

I waded through the gaps of the people in the hallway to the door, eventually able to breathe when I opened it. I was surprised to see Jay sat on the porch alone.

I thought maybe he wanted to be by himself, but then thinking of the loud, noisy, too-modern music that I could only take so much of, I agreed with myself on sitting next to him.

He was staring across the road, his suit jacket on the ground, his tie scruffily undone and hung around his neck. His forearms rested on his knees as he twisted his hands.

I whispered a sigh and stared across the road as he did.

"I needed a breather." He said quietly.

"Me too." I rubbed my eyes, the last bit of energy draining from me.

"I'm not exactly overly fond of over-the-top parties." He sighed shortly out his nose in a sense of laughter.

"Me neither."

There was a prolonged moments silence, but it wasn't awkward, just peaceful.

"Have you ever noticed that you are... completely different to anyone else on this entire earth, George?" His question was sort of out of the blue, and I didn't know whether I was presumed to answer.

"No, not really. I could the same about you, you know."

"No."

"Yes, because I haven't met everyone on the earth yet."

He laughed, shaking his head.

I smiled to myself.

"Would you mind terribly if I asked why you moved here?" His voice was uncertain.

"No. But I don't think you would find it very interesting."

"Try me."

"So, your brother's still back in England?"

"Yep." There was a few seconds silence. "What about you then?"

"Ah. I should've seen this coming."

"You don't have to tell me."

"There's nothing to tell."

"I'm sure that's not true."

He sighed a deep sigh. A frustrated sigh, and then looked up at the stars.

"Sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" He looked at me for the first time since the start of the party.

His green-blue eyes were deep with sorrow, yet full of will and blissful memory. I gazed into them for quite a while, forgetting our conversation.

He turned my way, sat opposite from me on the porch step. And then quickly but swiftly, he touched his lips to mine. I leaned in slowly as he moved his hand on top of mine, binding our fingers. I couldn't think, I was chained to my irrevocable endearment of him. It felt like forever as I comprehended how much time I had really spent with him over the last couple of months. There was no doubting it, I had feelings for him. But how could feelings like that emerge from only such a little amount of time?

His lips left mine and I opened my eyes. In no rush, he gripped his suit jacket from the floor, stood, looked at me one last time, smiling, and smoothly walked away down the drive.

I smiled helplessly, covering my mouth, and laughed under my breath.

The door opened then, and I turned around to see Hayley stood there, with an annoyed expression.

"Sorry. I was just getting some air. I think I might head home now."

"OK." She replied sadly. "I'll get your jacket."

"No, it's fine. You can bring it in on Monday." I smiled. "I'll see you later."

"Bye!" She said as I walked down the drive.

That night, Emery called.

He wanted to see me, but when he tried to explain why he wasn't in school, no matter how many times I asked, he changed the subject continuously.

"I'm not going to tell anyone if that's what you're afraid of." I sighed, struggling to get the truth from him.

"No!" I heard him tut on the other end of the line. "I'm afraid that you won't believe me."

"Why?"

"Because that's what happened before, and now I'm losing you."

"Well, to be honest, Emery... you don't seem that bothered." I didn't want to start an argument, but only now had he chosen to speak to me over the last week or so.

"See?"

"See what?"

"You're ditching me."

"I'm ditching you?" You could have cut the surprise in my voice with a knife.

"Ugh. I knew it was too soon." He said to himself, not to me.

"What was too soon? You're sort of sending me mixed messages here."

"Forget it." And he put the receiver down.

"Something wrong?" Uncle Matthew asked, seeing my creased, frustrated face as he walked through from the lounge.

"No." I put the phone down calmly.

"Kay." He said, opening the kitchen cupboard for a packet of crisps. "It's twelve, and you look tired, so, get to bed soon."

"Will do."

"Didn't you enjoy the party?"

"Booming music isn't really my taste. I'm more of a Genesis, Queen fan."

"Ah." He nodded.

"See you tomorrow." I said, heading towards the stairs.

"OK. Night." He replied, still munching on his cheese and onion crisps.

I was overly fatigued, but the troubles that prowled inside my mind kept me from sleep. _At least you have two days to think of how you're going to act on Monday? _I thought, trying exasperatingly to rest my anxiety.

Monday 6th March.

Walking up to the school gate, I wasn't expecting anything other than an awkward day. But then Emery showed up and ruined my non-existing plans.

"I'm back!" He said cheerfully.

"I can see that." I walked straight past him, vexed with his sudden jolliness.

"Come on, George, don't be so childish." He followed.

I turned around, snappy. "_You're ditching me._" I mimicked in a wimpy little voice, and then turned the other way to resume walking.

"Ha ha." He grabbed my arm. "How come I wasn't invited to the party."

"I wouldn't expect you to know about it. You haven't been in school for nearly two weeks." I retorted.

"I might have been ill."

"Oh we both know that's not the reason."

His face grew angry, nostrils flaring. "What's it to you then?"

"Hmm, let me think... I'm your friend." My voice wasn't as angry now, it was more insulted.

"That's news to me." His eyes were wide with fury.

I felt betrayed. "This is getting ridiculous." I realised. The argument was simply frivolous.

"The only thing that's ridiculous is your petty little life." That one hurt.

"You don't even know about my life!" I roared.

Last period was Art. It had to be Art, otherwise my life of torment would not be fulfilled.

He was silent, as was I. But then he made the witless decision of talking.

"If you had just given me the chance to explain."

I gave an incredulous sigh. "Emery, what is it you want to explain."

"Everything."

"Your cliff hangers are giving me an exasperating headache. Please, just get it over with." I kept my voice slow and calm, though it had a large hint of galled and fed-up.

"I'm not who you think I am."

"There goes another one."

"I don't know _how_ to explain it."

"Then don't bother." I went back to shading the mantelpiece that was my A4 drawing.

He didn't say anything more, so I guessed that he'd got the message: I wasn't spending anymore time listening to his stutters of explanations, and pathetic insults against me.

I saw Jay as I was walking out of building one, and I pondered for quite a while on whether I should go over or not. I decided on not; he looked engrossed in a conversation, and I wasn't one to deliberately go and humiliate myself by awkwarding things up.

"Hey, George!" Raul's shout caught my attention away from Jay.

He was stood with Neel, Aubree and Leon. No Emery.

"Hi." I replied, walking over.

"We thought it best to tell you..." Neel stopped to grin at the others beside him. "...How do I put this... to stay away from Emery. For a while."

"That shouldn't be a problem." I murmured under my breath.

"Huh?"

"OK. Got it." I gave them a thumbs up and turned to walk away, hearing them mumble things to each other.

Aubree mumbled first. "Was it supposed to be that easy?"

"How do we know, idiot?" Raul joked.

They obviously thought me and Emery were for some reason inseparable. But clearly not to Emery. There was something that triggered an unfathomable question in my mind. What made them so recognisable? It was as if I had seen them before; before that first time in the cafeteria, before I had moved here. Odd.


	25. Chapter 25

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 25: Sudden**

"Get off me, Emery!" I snapped, struggling to release his grip on my arm.

"You might as well be quiet, because you're coming with me anyway."

"Where?" I shouted.

"Just wait." He continued to look ahead, walking briskly along the road. A road I didn't recognise... that couldn't be good.

"I'll come with you if you let me go." His grasp was extremely tight. He didn't answer. "You're hurting me!" I lied.

Immediately, he let go and turned around. "I'm sorry, but you have to know."

"I'm on the edge, Emery! Know what?"

"Who...what, I really am." He gripped my arm once more and hurriedly marched down the road.

"Then tell me!"

"You won't believe me!"

"What isn't there to believe?"

"Me!" He boomed, his face suddenly very close to mine. I could feel his breath racing, his eyes were wide with fury.

I broke free from his grip and stared back at him. "That makes more sense. I can't believe how bossy and irascible you're being."

"Don't start." He warned. "Or I will get _very_ angry."

"_Ooooh_._ Scary_."

"You're so pitiable. I thought you of all would understand."

"Understand what?" I moaned, tears nearly springing to my eyes because of how unclear this all was.

"Being alone. Having no one but yourself except brothers and sisters who you can't rely on because they're either never there or in the same situation."

"I don't know what you mean, Emery." I honestly couldn't relate.

"You felt alone.. didn't you? Back home? Only your little brother to talk to?!" He shouted.

I stopped to think, confused. "H-" I stuttered. "How do you even know about that?" I croaked.

My eyes suddenly went blurry, stinging with the salt water from my tears.

"Well," He strived for an answer. "I just..."

I shook my head, staring at the floor in front of me. "Wait... what has that got to do with you?" My breath expired and I had to stop. "You're in the same situation?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what is it?" I looked up at him, not able to understand a single thing he was possibly trying to communicate. His short sentences were ludicrous, they didn't tell me anything.

"It's driving me crazy!"

"Sorry. Can't help. I really wish I could."

I was walking away, last thing I saw was him stood still. But then as I looked up, Neel was there.

"What have you told her, Emery?" He spoke through gritted teeth, his jaw clenched.

"Nothing."

"If I find out you're lying..." He threatened.

"Nothing!" Emery howled.

"Go home, George." Neel said in a lower voice, his eyes still glued to Emery.

"I don't know where I am." I replied angrily, staring hard at him. Something wasn't right, and I figured it was something to do with the large, hacked-off boy stood rigid in front of me.

"Then get a map." He snarled.

Next thing I knew, Emery shot a punch at Neel and they were wrestling each other to the ground. I just wanted to get away. I began to run, anywhere, back the way we came. Rain fell from the clouds above, heavy and ferocious. What if Emery was hurt, what if it was a serious fight? I glanced back, but then regretted it. I froze, stood limp in the rain, watching the two wolves tear and snarl at each other.

My head was spinning violently, things that shouldn't be moving moved. The rain clouded my eyes and I could see nothing but the indistinct shapes around me. My hearing however, was still incredibly explicit. Nothing but barks, the pelting of the rain, and loud rashes of thunder.

I wiped my eyes, but the vast droplets of rain thrashed to the earth too quickly, straight in the direction of my face. I turned around, sheltering my eyes from the never-ending rivers of water.

All of a sudden, the barking stopped, and only the thunder and the rain could be heard. I didn't dare peep behind me, afraid that I would find a mangled, large dog lain still on the flooded street.

Despite my fears of what I would discover, I whirled around to view the road behind me, but I was surprised to find it empty. I scanned around, but nothing. Even running over to the pathway, nothing was there. No blood, no body, no wolf... I wondered if I had imagined it all.

No.

This was real.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Jay's voice summoned my attention, pulling me out of my trance.

"Huh?" I murmured, turning around.

He was walking towards me, his face sad, holding out his jacket. "George, why are you stood out in the rain?" He wrapped it around me, his own shirt rapidly being drenched by the falling rain.

"I'm lost?"

"I can tell."

Both of us were now completely soaked. He turned around, beginning to walk the way I had been dragged here in the first place. Noticing that I wasn't following, he called my name once again, and I lifted my head.

"_Why_ are you still stood there?" His voice was humorous with disbelief.

"Sorry." I apologized. I jogged over to him, and he put his arm around me gently, helping me along in my weak state.

We walked all the way to 1497 Windmill Cove Lane without speaking. He remembered where I lived from the many times that Hayley had dropped us off after visiting the lake. As he knocked on the door, a slight wave of despair crossed his face. I didn't bother asking what the matter was, that would ruin the perfect silence.

Auntie Emma opened the door, least expecting us to be there, dripping.

"What on earth..." Her voice was high pitched with shock.

"I think it's best I explain another time, Mrs Summers. Right now she's a bit, well..." Jay said, pushing me lightly forward through the doorway.

"Of course." She agreed. "Thankyou, for... bringing her home?"

"No problem." He smiled.

I looked at him curiously. He probably thought I was mad. Auntie Emma too. Yet he was the only one acting completely calm. Auntie Em was stunned, I was in...well...sort of trauma, but he was so much more collected.

I just saw two young boys turn into frenzied wolves and try to tear each other apart.

The impact was taking its toll on me.

"Come on." Auntie Em pulled me inside slowly.

The next time I looked out the door, Jay was walking down the pavement. At least the rain had stopped, but that didn't help my feeling sorry for him. These things seemed to come naturally to him; being nice, paying more attention to people than they deserve, solving other people's problems when they turned to chaos. He was never mean, or rash. It was pessimistic that a lot of the time he wasn't treated the same way.

"So. For a start, why are you soaking?" Auntie Emma sat me on the sofa and cloaked me with a rug.

"It's hard to explain." It wasn't, really. Actually, it was pretty simple. I got dragged away by my used-to-be-human friend Emery, to a place I didn't know, got into a bit of an argument, his cousin or whatever showed up and got a smack in the face, and they both turned into rabid dogs in the middle of the street. Easy.

"Never mind then, you just get cosy. Are you hungry?" Her eyes were warm with sympathy and care.

"No." I closed my eyes, declining sideways onto the sofa so that I was lying down. "Thanks."

"Okay." I heard her light footsteps leading through to the kitchen.

The water from my clothes was probably dampening the sofa. I would've moved, but I felt feeble with the drowsiness. A half hour later, Auntie Em came to tell me she was going out to drop something off at the post office. She asked if I wanted her to stay, but I refused, dazing back into sleep. It felt like hours before I awoke again. In reality, it had only been a few minutes.

Something was shaking my arm. I tried jiggling it off, but it wouldn't leave me be.

"Go away." A moaned.

"George." Their voice sounded fuzzy.

"What?" I opened my eyes.

Emery was knelt beside me, his eyes worried. I shot back against the sofa, so vigorously that my chest hurt.

"Calm down." He spoke as if I was a mass-murderer going on a rampage.

"Y- You're a wolf." I stammered slowly. "Ugh." I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to concentrate, but all I could hear was his mumbling voice in the background. I opened them, studying his face, which was locked onto mine. "That day at the lake..." He was alarmed by the suspicion in my voice. "You told me... that you-"

"I know, I know."

"What the hell!" I threw the cushion that I had previously leant my head on at his face. With force.

"I warned you!" He opposed.

"That wasn't a warning!"

"What else would be suffice?"

"Oh, I don't know... maybe, hey, George, if you keep hanging around with me, I might just end up tearing your head off." I leapt off the sofa, combing my hair back with my fingers in vexation.

"Your reaction would've been the same."

"Ugh. Just... shhh for a minute." I held my finger out, advising him to be quiet. He obeyed.

"You can't tell anyone."

"No one would believe me if I did."

"I'm sorry." His words didn't suit his expression. It was agitated, his eyebrows forced into a crooked line of frustration, his lips in a solemn straight line. "Guess it was sort of a shock."

"Yeah. It was." I said discretely.

I slumped down on the sofa, sitting next to him as sat on the floor, leant back against the arm.

"We have a bit of a problem."

I lifted my head out of my hands.

"Neel knows you know now."

I sighed in distress. "So?"

"Well, no one is supposed to know."

"Oops."

There was a slightly subdued silence.

"I should go."

"Okay." I yawned, the sleepiness eating away at me.

I only had my eyes shut for five seconds at the most, but when I opened them, he was gone.

I leapt up quickly and walked out of the lounge to stare down the hall. The keys that had been left in the door swung side to side. And once again, I was alone.

"Where were you yesterday?" Addison whispered in History the next day, trying to avoid Mr. Wynslowe's glare. The Nazi program we were watching, or meant to be watching, meant that the lights had to be turned off and it was harder for him to spot the many people that would rather mess about or talk. "I thought you said you would meet me at KFC in Chasewood?"

"I'm so sorry, Addison." I sighed, trying to keep my voice as little as possible.

"No, it's fine. I was just worried."

"Don't. I got caught up. I really am sorry."

The class was shushed fiercely by Mr. Wynslowe before she could reply.

"You could have texted or something, though." Hayley pointed out annoyingly at lunch.

"I just... forgot completely. Had a lot on my mind, sorry." I must have said the same thing over about ten times by then.

"It's fine! We'll go again sometime." Addison insisted.

"Hey, can I borrow George for a second?" Emery's voice interrupted the short silence which would've soon been ended by Hayley's gossips anyway.

Addison coughed meaningly. "Sure." She smiled.

"Ugh. Not again." Hayley moaned, not quietly enough to escape mine or Emery's hearing.

"What's the matter?" I asked him.

"Who said anything was the matter?" He smiled calmly.

"Right." I murmured sarcastically and stood up.

"You need to take a vacation." He grinned innocently.

I waited silently for his explanation, my arms folded.

"Not for too long, just long enough."

"Long enough for what?"

"Like I said yesterday, Neel knows you know."

"That you're wolves?"

"No, that we're teddy bears who go around handing out free ice creams."He sighed helplessly, shaking his head. "Yes, that we're... wolves."

"So that means?"

"That he wants to make sure you don't blurt our little secret."

"Which means?"

"He's not going to ask you nicely to keep it."

"Cut to the chase, Emery!"

"If he finds you, you're in trouble!"

"'Who said anything was the matter?'" I mimicked to myself quietly whilst he blabbered on into the details.

"...maybe up north, somewhere off-shore, maybe-"

"Up north? Off _shore_? Why should I go anywhere? It's not my fault you two had a scrap." I argued.

"He won't wait. He's persistent."

"So am I."

"So..." He continued. "You'll need to move quick."

"Emery! I'm _not_ moving. What's the worst he could do? Shout at me." I focused my sight on a couple near the doors at the other side of the cafeteria. They were holding each other. They looked happy. That was one thing that never seemed to greet me ever so nicely. Happy.

"There _are_ certain rules in our...pack."

"There you go then." Problem solved, or so I thought. "Done."

"If that was the case I wouldn't be asking you to move miles and miles away."

Miles and miles? Oh the joy.

"Neel doesn't really.. follow the rules." He seemed to be miming half his sentence.

"What do you mean? Does he hurt people or something?" There was something blocking parts of my hearing.

"Only if they get in his way." He shouted, but again, I only was able to hear pieces .

I was confused. People were running. Out the doors. Everyone was running. Their mouths hung open in a strained position as they crushed each other towards the cafeteria exit. I looked back at Emery. He was trying to say something, but no words came out. He shook my shoulders, but stopped in a sudden, shocked movement, removing his hands from my arms and taking a step back. He said one more word, and then the bleeping stopped. Water sprang from the showers above, startling me and instantly spreading across the hard floor. I couldn't find the noise of anymore people, it was silent except for the gushing water. But as I searched around for the source of the unexplainable happening, I saw one person stood in front of the double doors where the other students had just escaped.

Neel.


	26. Chapter 26

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 26: Traffic**

**Hi Guys! I just wanted to say thank you again for the reviews, it would be absolutely great if you could keep them coming, ha! Hope you like the Story so far... CSJK13BLUE**

Emery stared blankly at him, not moving an inch. His expression didn't show the slightest bit of warmth as usual, it was cold, dark, like a moonless night. Neel glared back, a hint of smugness hidden well in his dark brown eyes. I, however, ruined the moment. I was the girl in between, changing the directions I faced each second to study anything slightly different in their character. Nothing.

"This, could've gone differently. But I don't know you well enough, George, to tell if you're going to.. ruin things for us." Neel paced, fiddling with what looked like a twig in his hands. Twisting it over and over, playing with it. I was the twig.

"Neel," Emery began, but didn't have enough time to finish.

"I warned you, Emery. I told you the consequences." His eyes tutted, almost mocking.

"You know the rules, Neel. They're not made to be broken."

"And it just so happens that you've broken one of those rules, Emery. In fact," He rose the twig to tap it against his forehead with a thoughtful expression. ", the most important one." His face grew a grave, angry glower, his eyes burning. Without warning, he dropped the twig to the floor abruptly, and stamped on it ferociously once. It snapped. I jumped and he noticed my fear in an instant.

"Me? No. That was you...you turned first." Emery contended, pointing his finger.

Neel laughed, more like a growl actually.

"I won't tell anyone. You have my word." I butted in, trying to keep this between me and Neel, Emery aside. If possible.

"You think your word means something to me? Sorry, that's not enough."

"Then what do you want?" I kept my eyes focused on the floor, perusing the dotted patterns.

"Dinner." He chuckled, his eyes filled to the brim with a distorted kind of humour.

"Oh my god." I whispered to myself in a disbelieving voice. "What is this, 'What's the time Mr. Wolf?'"

"What?" He asked, missing that last low-volume comment.

"Stop joking around, Neel. Go home." Emery said, keeping his eyes fixed on him.

"Not an option." He laughed shortly one more time, and then there was the impulsive tearing sound of a rip. The black-brown furred wolf shot high into the air and skidded sideways to face me, it's claws screeching across the floor like fingernails on a blackboard.

It's black eyes smirked at me. Emery slid across to me, placing himself firmly in front, protecting me. "Head for the doors on my count of three." He whispered quickly in a breath.

I prepared to run, angling my feet in the direction where the doors headed outside. This should be my expert area, running. Maybe all those years of running track for school teams would finally pay off.

The dark haired animal staring right at me looked as if it might pounce any moment.

"Three..." Emery counted. "Two... One!" In the flash of a second, he was in mid-air, transforming into a bronze-furred wolf so easily you would have thought he'd had fifty years practice. This obviously wasn't the same as in the old-fashioned movies then.

I made a dash for the door, snatching my only chance. But, of course, they had to be locked. I struggled endlessly with all my force to wrench them open, but no, they weren't budging.

"Help!" I shouted. "Help!" It was just like in the fire drills, they would all be over on the tarmac near the school car park. The probability of me getting out of there wasn't exactly high.

Still, I banged on the doors, trying to make the sound loud over the noise of the two fighting wolves in the background. I couldn't get out, nobody would come. I might as well go and help Emery.

I always told people I didn't cope well under pressure. Why they never listened is beyond me. I ran over to a table where a bag with a skateboard sticking out of it sat. Grabbing and pulling it out, I glanced behind me hastily to check Emery was still on his feet. Or...paws.

Neel looked focused enough on the battle to not notice me sneaking behind, so, deciding that I didn't really have any other choice, I took my chances. I tip toed discreetly but hurriedly behind him, keeping my distance, careful not to be caught by his out-stretching legs each time he stepped back to gain a stronger pounce. The growling, barking and snarling covered up the noise made by the skateboard being broken against the edge of one of the tables.

Positioning myself behind Neel, I planned how I would enforce my attack. The side. I would go for the ribs. I brought it down with all my force, striving desperately hard to dig in the broken-ended skateboard. It worked, for about two seconds, and then with an outburst of fury, Emery was thrown onto the floor, skidding quite a way across the cafeteria, and the massive, raging wolf was facing me.

He stepped forwards slowly, I had limited time to find a weapon, _very _limited time. And limited space. In a majorly rushed action, I whipped around to snatch a rucksack from the table behind, and swung it round, hitting the large dog bang across the nose. That bought me about five more seconds. Digging inside the bag, I found a pencil. A pencil. At least it was sharp. The wolf shook it's head, regaining its anger, and charged forwards at me, I stepped towards him, closing in the rest of the distance in shorter time enough to dig the pencil into the side of its neck. I let go of the pencil, feeling it being dragged to the floor with the wolf, and stepped back in relief.

Ouch.

Something hurt. I checked my hands, there was blood on the right where I had held the pencil, but no wound. Where was it coming from? A ripping ache came from beneath my rib cage on the right side of my waist. I looked down to see a dark red liquid streaming through the cotton of my tank top rapidly. There was a painful twinge as I tried to move.

"George. You're okay." Emery sighed in relief as he walked over exhaustedly.

"Ow." I mumbled, feeling the wound. The touch of the blood to my hand was warm and wet, it felt strange in the dizzy state I was in.

"George?" Emery's voice called. I looked up slowly, having to drag my head using up the last remaining petrol of energy I had. He was oblivious to the situation. I removed my hand from my waist, and with the movement, his eyes saw the blood on my top and widened in shock.

He rushed over to me and carefully lowered me to the floor. He glanced over to the wolf and back, and then again. He had a bit of a dilemma on his hands. If people saw the wolf, there was going to be a ridiculously large fiasco.

"Go." I said quietly, persevering to make my voice sound as normal as possible.

He looked at me longingly. "I have to get you-"

"Go." I interrupted, pushing him away with my the hand that didn't have blood streamed down it.

He took his arms away carefully, thinking over it for a split second, but then changing into his wolf form suddenly and dashing off with the other large werewolf. I didn't know how badly I had injured Neel, but he was unconscious.

The traffic cramming through my head was causing a massive breakdown in the function of my mind. I couldn't think properly, everything was dizzy and there was a strange tightening in my throat making it hard to breathe. The cafeteria doors were wide open now, after Emery's exit. I only hoped he would be back soon.

I felt around for any cloth or material to put against the wound, but there was nothing that would do the trick, so I kept pressure on it with my hands. The episodes of pain were agonizing, so I attempted to search for something else that would seize my attention. Nothing could take away the torment of the pain though, and after about five minutes, I wondered if Emery was coming back or not. It would take him around three minutes at the most to get Neel somewhere out of sight, no more, and a minute or two to get back here. Had he been seen? No. Emery was too clever to be caught by a passing human, too quick.

Why hadn't the teachers come back? There obviously wasn't a fire, not one that I could see anyway. But then again... I was in the cafeteria, the fire could have been anywhere else but here, if Neel started it, which I assumed he did. He had failed on killing me this time, whether he'd strike again once recovered was insignificant at this moment in time.

There was a screech of rubber trainers against the cafeteria floor. Someone was here, but it wasn't Emery, because they had to look around to actually see me.

"George!" They yelled.

As their relieved yet worried face turned my way, I was easily able to identify them. Jay. Thank god.

He ran over, struggling for words when he knelt beside me. "What the hell happened?"

"Not the best time." My breathing got heavier and with that, harder. "It's hard to breathe." I said unbelievably calmly.

"Stop talking."He rushed. "You've lost a lot of blood."

"It's not that bad." I lied, the last place I wanted to go was a hospital. They treated you like a three year old, and then when you went back to school, everybody asked the same question over about sixty times.

"I'm taking you to the hospital" He put his hand on my neck and brushed his thumb against my jaw line to calm me. Truth is, I was only worried about having to visit the ER.

"No." I whispered in a tone that was more like a moan. "Take me home."

"Are you crazy?" His voice was quiet.

"No. Yes, but it's not something to worry about." I joked, grinning weakly as I shut my eyes.

"Is this the bit where I say: 'You have to stay awake, George!'?" He laughed, angling round to pick me up.

"No, that's later on." I sighed, keeping my eyes closed and my head against his shoulder as he walked out the doors into the warm air.

He sat me on a car seat and ran round to the other side. He began to strap me in, but I opened my eyes suddenly. "Seriously? That's the biggest problem? Seatbelts?"

"I'm not that good a driver."

"Licence?"

"No. Learner."

"Here we go again." I sighed.

He was a pretty good driver, we got to the hospital in no time. I was reluctant to getting out the car, but in the end I didn't have a choice. Since I couldn't really walk, he had to carry me again anyway.

"I'll see if we have a nurse that can see you straight away." The reception lady said, hurrying off through a door numbered 2 after peeping over the desk to inspect me.

She came back out in just a few seconds, and returned to her seat. "I'll need both of your details."

"Jay Emerson." Jay said hurriedly, supporting me by keeping his left arm round my hip and his right holding mine as we stood in front of the tall desk.

"Age?" She asked, clearly not in a rush anymore at all.

"15." He replied.

"And you?" She asked, facing me now.

"George Summers, 14." I replied, the pain growing worse.

I was in room number 2 within the next minute. The doctor treated me with some morphine, cleaned the wound with antiseptic, bandaged it, and asked all the usual questions. I made up a stupid alibi about how the accident happened, telling him that I tripped and fell on the broken end of a skateboard. I was given an oxygen mask for the next ten minutes, and told to sit still.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be any splinters of wood stuck in there, which is lucky." He smiled. "I'll give you these antibiotics, and you can be on your way. All I need now is your parents phone number, George."

"I live with my Auntie and Uncle, should I give you theirs?"

"Yes please. Mobiles if possible."

"I only know my Uncle Matthews."

"That'll do."

"713 042 7850."

We were allowed to go after another ten minutes of the oxygen mask. I explained that I took inhalers every morning and night for asthma, and that was it. Easier than I thought. Me and Jay walked to the car, but just as he was about to open the door for me, he stopped.

"I'm dead." He said, looking up at the sun in the sky.

"What's the matter." I asked, looking at his slightly fearful face.

"This is my Uncle's truck." He laughed. "He's back at the school. Doesn't even know I'm gone."

"Why is your Uncle at the school?"

"Because I got into a fight."

"Really? With who?"

"That doesn't matter!" He laughed.

"Well, are you going to drive, or...?"

"You're going to be mad." He said slowly, still slightly laughing.

"Why?"

"I left the keys in the truck." He paused. "In the ignition." He pointed out, making it more clear when he realised I wasn't understanding what he was saying.

I waited for a moment whilst he looked at me and I looked at him. "Perfect."

"Sorry." He apologized, still focusing on the funny side.

"Very clever." I peeped through the dark windows and gave up hope when I finally saw the keys dangling in the ignition helplessly.

"I've got money for one person on the bus." He scrambled about in his jeans pockets. "Here. Take it." He said, holding it out in the palm of his hand.

"No. That's your money. You were going to use it for the bus to Pizza Hut later. No." I refused.

"Please, George. Take it." He smiled.

"I'd rather walk." I said quietly, concealing the pennies in his hand.

"You can't."

"I'm not ruining your evening just because of a stupid accident."

He sighed, dropping his hand. "Tell me the truth, George." His beautiful eyes pleaded. "What really happened?" Before I could tell the lie again, he went on, "That skateboard was about ten metres away from you."

I couldn't lie to him. I opened my mouth to speak, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't manage to force the words out. "I'm sorry." I stepped over to him, took his hand, and held it to his chest. "It's not my secret to tell." I whispered.

He sighed deeply and took down our hands. "Come on." He breathed, beginning to walk towards the exit of the car park. "Unless you want that change." He smiled.

"No. I'd rather walk." I repeated, following him to hold his hand tight.


	27. Chapter 27

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 27: Trouble**

"Over there! Look, there!" Someone shouted as we approached the crowds of students outside the school on the tarmac.

"Think we're in trouble?" I whispered to Jay, still holding his hand after the long walk back to the school.

"Yeah." He said, slowly, looking ahead at all the faces staring this way.

"Where have you two been!" A teacher bellowed, strutting briskly over to us. She was maaaad.

Me and Jay released our hands immediately. She waited for a response, her lips pursed, as we stood motionless in dread.

"Well?" She pushed.

"The emergency room." Jay blurted, and I closed my eyes , all hope lost. There were other students already crowding around, no doubt some of them had heard, because they were whispering rapidly in shocked faces to each other.

"Oh." Miss said in defeat. "People have been searching everywhere for you both! You _must_ register in the emergency of a fire."

"I'm sorry. We didn't know what to do." I said, signalling to the blood stains on my top. Since people already knew, I might as well take advantage of the situation and try to get sympathy from the teacher at least.

More people chattered around, and I couldn't help grinning at the ridiculous scenario.

"Right. Of course, well go over to Mr. Sampson and register, please." She pointed over to a man with a clipboard stood over on the tarmac.

Me and Jay wandered over the grass, trying to avoid people's glares and we both couldn't help but laugh a little bit.

"Jay Emerson?" Mr Sampson asked, inspecting him and noticing the blood on his shirt from when he had carried me.

"Yes, Sir."

"Georgia Summers?"

"Yes, Sir."

He ticked twice on the clipboard and sent us away.

"Ow." I grimaced. I was walking too fast, and the pain had started once more.

"You okay?" Jay asked, stopping.

"Yeah, fine." I smiled weakly and walked on.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Emery. He was looking straight at me, just like all the other curious students, but with frustration. I didn't know whether to acknowledge his gaze more obviously or carry on. I took the second option and carried on walking, snatching just one more glimpse over his way, only to see a pained expression replace the previous one. I felt bad for ignoring him, but what else was I supposed to do? Whenever I had a problem, Jay was always there. Emery forgot about me for about a week, and who was there for me? Jay. Emery dragged me out into the rain, and I found out that he and Neel were wolves. They got into a wolf-scrap, and I was left alone in the pouring rain. Who came to take me home? Jay. I got a wolves claws dug into my waist, and Emery had no other choice but to leave me bleeding all over the cafeteria floor. Who _saved_ me? Jay. He was there, all the time. A shoulder to lean on, a hand to hold, a friend to rely on. He was more than a friend though, I loved him. I loved Emery too, however, not in the same way. I wasn't able to worry about Emery like I would about Jay. Whether part of that was due to the fact that Emery is half-wolf, I don't know. I couldn't quite fathom the way I felt about Jay. It was a friendship that felt like it would never end, like he would always be there. He cared for me like no other, asking for nothing in return. He didn't need to though, I cared for him anyway.

Fire engines were parked outside the school, and I could smell smoke. Looks like Neel had decided to actually set the school on fire. Endangering lives that didn't need to be endangered. I don't see why he couldn't just have trusted me. Or did he think of me that low that I would have blurted his secret that very day.

Even if I knew he was coming, that he would charge through those cafeteria doors and aim to kill me, I wouldn't have left. Not for one selfish person that didn't even have the balls to give me a chance. I was defenceless except for a skateboard and a pencil against a giant wolf that had teeth as big as my nose and claws as sharp as knives. He was a coward, and he got beaten. Sure, I had Emery, but he wasn't strong enough against Neel. Neel was obviously older, more experienced. Nevertheless he had failed this time, and the next time, I would be ready.

Or so I thought.

"You have quite some explaining to do, young lady!" Auntie Emma said in a raised voice, pointing her finger at me as I sat quietly on the kitchen stool in shame. "First, I get a formal message from the school 'informing' me that there has been a fire and students will be sent home after two hours of registration. _Then_, I get a phone call from the school telling me that you're missing, and that they are searching inside and outside the school property. God knows what could've happened to you, George! I was about to phone your Dad and tell him to brace himself for bad news! But _then_, _then_ I get a phone-call from the ER. I thought you might have been dead, or fatally injured. But thank the lord it was just a wound." She paced restlessly, and then slumped down on the stool across from me, tired.

A waited a few moments before saying anything. "Sorry."

"Your Uncle Matthew was about to go to the school and search for you himself." She sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead. "You can't do stuff like this, George. You've got to be careful."

"Careful?" I moaned in a jokey way.

"Yes, _careful_." Her voice was stern. "Careful as in, get outside when the fire alarm goes off...tell a teacher before taking a quick trip to the emergency room...tell _me_ when you're going to the emergency room... but most of all, George, stay away from skateboards, please."

I smiled when she mentioned the skateboards. I think there was something else, though, that needed to be kept at a distance apart from wooden boards with wheels... werewolves. That might be a little difficult though, seeing as I was practically best friends with one.

I had to consider the possibility that Emery could hurt me. Not exactly physically, that wasn't much of a problem. Emotionally...that was what _would_ get to me. If he was in any way caused pain.

School was, abnormally, kept on the next day. Half of building one had been burnt. All because of me. Sure, it was Neel that started the fire, but, only to get to me, to catch me alone, undefended, no witnesses. Except for Emery. But what could he do? Expose his own secret? No, that wasn't my aim any way, my aim was to fight back.

"Looks like that pencil dug pretty deep. Hit an artery." Emery said, walking along side me.

"Good." I replied grimly. He could have lost tons of blood for all I cared.

He grinned, but then his face turned serious. "Guess we won't be having any English, History or French lessons for a while." He sighed, looking over at the left side of building one where the fire had spread.

"Yeah," I had to squint because of the sun's bright shine in my eyes. "did he have to set it on fire? People could have died."

"He doesn't care, as long as the secret wasn't let out. I spoke to him yesterday; he asked whether he'd dug his claws deep enough." His spoke through gritted teeth.

"Guess not. I'm still here."

"Sorry I didn't get there in time." He shook his head as we walked past the ruins.

"Like I said, I'm still here."

"You're better off with Jay."

"I'm better off with both of you." I laughed. "I seem to get into dilemmas an awful lot. I met you for a start."

"Ha Ha. Very funny. I'm serious, you never seem to worry."

"You've got it all wrong. I'm always worrying."

"Not about yourself."

"Am I _supposed_ to?"

He shrugged.

Addison came running over then. "Everybody thought you were stuck in the fire!"

"Sorry." I tried a smile.

"Not good enough. Plus, apparently the blood they found on the cafeteria floor this morning is _yours_." Her eyes widened.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that too."

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you in chemistry." I promised.

She shook her head in a small laugh and hugged me gently.

"Deal." She said, walking back to her conversation with another girl.

"Emery." I grabbed his arm before he could walk away too. "Is Neel here?"

"I don't know. But keep an eye out. Text me if you see him."

"Kay." I replied, and let go.

It was just as second period ended. I was headed outside for the ten-minute break but then had to halt at the door. He seemed to be arguing with Raul and Aubree. Leon was stood silently behind, avoiding getting involved I expect. Someone brushed past me to go out the door, and I heard part of the conversation before the door slowly croaked closed.

"You're out of your mind, Neel! Breaking all th-"

"Watch your mouth, Raul!"

I peeked through the grubby triangular door window. Surely he wasn't going to make a scene in front of all the other people. I stepped outside. He hadn't noticed me so far, maybe I could make it all the way over to Jay and Rick stood over by the entrance to building two.

"Neel, it's not even a big problem. She's Emery's _friend_, it's not like she'd tell anyone." Aubree said in a much calmer voice.

"Yeah, no need to burn down a school, for Christ's sake!" Raul hissed in a low voice.

"Shut it." Neel warned. "I'm not taking any chances. Fuck the rules."

Leon noticed me walking past, and I slowed to give him a pleading look. He smiled briefly, and then continued to examine the argument in disinterest. Unlucky for me, Neel seemed to have finished his part, and turned around to storm off, spotting me in a flash.

He grinned smugly, and began walking towards me in no hurry at all. I speed-walked over to Jay and Rick, seeking backup. A sudden jab of pain knifed in the right side of my waist and I grimaced.

"Take it easy." Rick said, grabbing my arm in probable fear I might pass out or something. He was easily scared by others injuries or sicknesses, wouldn't cope well if a friend had an asthma attack in the middle of nowhere. Last time we were at the lake, he passed out when Addison's finger wouldn't stop bleeding after she pricked it on a thorn.

"I'm fine."

"Can I talk to George for a minute please." Neel's cold but polite voice broke the small silence.

"I'm busy."

"It won't take long." He added.

I swung around to face him, but he shadowed over me like a tower, his broad shoulders stiffened. "Can't you talk here? Is it a _secret_ or something?" I said ironically in a dramatised voice.

He took my wrist firmly and began to walk me away. But Jay caught up with us quickly. "Hey, what's going on?" He asked unsteadily.

"Nothing." Neel said warningly.

"Just tell me what for." Jay reasoned.

"I know what it's about; and I don't want to _discuss_ it right now." I said sternly, pulling my hand away from his grip whilst he was distracted.

The pain in my side groaned at me, battling for my attention.

"Okay, so why don't we leave it for now, you look like you need to sit down, George." Jay's voice was peaceful, which only made Neel more cross.

"I'm afraid this can't wait." He persisted.

"It's going to have to." Jay looked at him like someone who decided that the joke wasn't funny anymore.

Neel sighed heavily in irritation and barged past him angrily, nearly knocking him over.

I knew that wasn't it, that he would try again when I had no one to run to, no one to call for. Fortunately, I now knew that the others, Raul, Aubree and Leon, were wolves too. What's more is that they weren't on his side. Whether they were on Emery's was another thing completely.

Jay decided to walk home with me and Addison that day, we met him outside our last class and were about to set off when Mrs Linsey stopped me. She claimed that I hadn't handed in my paper on To Kill a Mockingbird. I couldn't convince her that I had, and so I told Addison and Jay to go without me. My unfair punishment was half an hour of sweeping the classroom floor. At least it was better than sitting there listening to her harsh remarks on people's work as she combed through each and every long paper.

I was eventually set free to go home, glad to get out into the fresh air after being kept in a stuffy English classroom.

My heavy rucksack strained my back after sweeping those floors, and I really regretted not telling her about my injury.

I was just leaving the car park, about to step out onto the pavement, when I was pulled through a bush. I swung my arm around, but by that time, I was already on the ground.

"George!" Someone screamed in terror. The voice came from the other side of the bush. I was too startled to know whose it was.

Soon I was being dragged along through the trees roughly. My waist was hurting more than ever; it felt like someone was ripping it apart with two blunt knives.

"Stop!" I yelled, but they more than obviously carried on. They rustled through the bushes, pulling me along like a suitcase by the top of my arm.

Finally, it came to an end, and I was thrown to the floor. I opened my eyes and sat up. Neel stood a few metres away, his mouth brewed into a satisfied grin.

"God." I moaned, holding my hand to my waist to try and ease the pain. "This is just a game to you." I stared at the floor in throe.

"You only just figured?" He laughed, beginning to walk in a circle around me. "To be fair, you put up a pretty good fight at first. But getting you alone was just too easy."

"The paper thing was you?" I sighed.

"Mm hmm." He crouched next to me. "I don't consider this as breaking the rules. I keep telling everyone you're a threat. They don't listen, but that doesn't mean they can stop me." He whispered in to my ear. His tone of voice was mocking.

There was a rustling coming from the same direction I had been brought here. _It's got to be Emery._ I thought. Neel stood up in alarm, standing firmly in the middle of the small clearing. I wondered where we were, it must be somewhere deep into some sort of wood, he wouldn't kill me near any roads or houses, that was too dangerous.

We waited in suspense for the person to appear. Unexpectedly, Jay emerged from the bushes that enclosed the clearing.

"George." He whispered, breathless. He was both confused and angry at the situation. "What's going on?"

"Jay, go! Run!" I shouted, the pain overtaking my voice and making it more of a cry.

Neel kicked my waist to shut me up and I screeched in agony.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Jay yelled, running at Neel with all his force. He tackled him to the ground and threw a punch at his face before standing to help me up. "Come on." He breathed, pulling me by my wrists.

Neel arose, his nose bleeding, yet shook it off, unharmed, and whistled effortlessly. Quicker than I could blink, another tall, bronze skinned boy with cut off shorts and no top emerged from the bushes, his face pulled into a large smirk.

Me and Jay ran as fast as we could in the opposite direction heading back to the school. They were too fleet for us, though, and Jay's grip was torn away from my wrist.

The unidentified boy seized him, holding his arms in a strained position behind his back, and Neel began to beat him in the ribs with clenched fists.

"Stop!" I screamed at the top of my voice. "Stop!" I tried pulling Neel away by his neck, but I was as light as a feather on him, and he wacked me on the jaw without using any effort at all, sending me tumbling to the ground once more.

"Go!" Jay spluttered, hardly able to breathe now.

There was only one thing I would be useful for, and that was getting help. But Emery wasn't here. If he knew what was going on, he would've been here about five minutes ago. If he didn't know, nobody did.

I snatched a heavy log from the ground, using all my strength to throw it down on Neel's head. It did no damage, but he turned around to face me this time, his friend leaving Jay to fall to the floor, gasping for air. Neel's shoulders flung back in a sudden movement, and I only had to close my eyes for a few seconds to open them and find a wolf snarling at me angrily.

Jay couldn't help me now, he was too weak, and I knew that when they were finished with me, they would kill him too. It was me that got him into this. I shouldn't have even come to school today.

He groaned as he tried to haul himself up to his feet, but couldn't manage and ended up falling to the ground again. The other boy twitched his neck in different directions over and over, like he was agitated by something scratching at his neck, soon, he was a wolf too, a rumbling growl arousing from deep in his chest just like Neel's. I took a step back, only to stumble to the floor after tripping on a branch. I didn't stand a chance.

All hope was lost. There was no escape except for the forest behind me, and that wasn't an option, they would catch up to me within seconds, even less. None of this would've come to pass if I had just left the school when the fire alarm went off. Curse my subjective hearing.

Neel's face was full with desire, the thrill in his eyes growing extremely disturbing.

_You have to get up._ I thought. _You HAVE to get up!_ The pain in the side of my waist was almost unbearable now. It was impossible to repress the side effects it was causing; my head spun, there was an ache behind my eye sockets and the thought of Jay being hurt, never mind killed, was a whole other world of suffering.

"Please," I begged. "let him go." Tears welled up in my eyes as I watched Jay struggling on the floor. The salt water stung and blurred my vision.

The wolf that was Neel barked in laughter, it's black eyes staring into mine with hunger for my suffering, almost freezing me with their sheer depth of darkness. I heard Jay groan in discomfort as he tired himself trying to rise to his feet. Maybe if I shouted at the top of my voice, Emery would hear. He was supposed to have super-sensitive hearing right?

"EMERY! EMERY!" I stopped for breath. "EMERY!"

The wolf crouched behind Neel looked longingly at me, it's large set of razor-sharp teeth pulled into a smug grin. They each took a few steps closer; in a minute, my time would be up. Game over.

Surely Raul, Aubree and Leon knew what was going on; they had an entire conversation, or, argument rather, about it just this morning. Why would they be bothered in the slightest though? This didn't really concern them much; it didn't or wouldn't affect them in any way. Neel had made his decision, and I suppose they knew not to mess with his plans, not to get involved, or try to stop him. After all, he wasn't one to hold back, to wait for a real reason to do something.

Even more rustling came from the bushes, but from behind me now. I saw two sets of large paws step out into the clearing, two more wolves. It wasn't emery though, neither of them had that specific coloured fur. Maybe they were here to slaughter me too. But they ran, charged straight at Neel, fiercely tackling him and clawing away.

It was two on two, anything could happen. I gave all my might on getting up, and ran as fast as I could over to Jay, now lying on his back behind the two pairs of fighting wolves.

"You need to get up, now." I say, pulling on his top. But he couldn't, he grimaced in pain, and then lay back on the ground. "Jay!" I shouted, pulling again.

"I can't," He breathed. "ah!" He yelled in pain and I let go of his t-shirt, which instead of a sky blue, was now stained with blood.

"Please." I croaked, the tears taking over.

"Just go." He whispered, opening his eyes finally as he lay back on the ground.

I tried dragging him up, but it was too hard, and too painful.

"Leave."

"No."

He cried in hurt as he turned over onto his front and pushed himself onto all fours. I put my arm around his shoulder and he put his around mine, supporting each other as much as possible. We got into the woods as far that we couldn't see the wolves anymore, we could only hear them. They howled, barked, snarled and cried. The noises became more distant as we staggered through the woods, so unbalanced that we both nearly fell more than several times. I didn't know how far we were, all I knew was that we were slowing down awfully fast and I felt like I was going to pass out any second. By the looks of it, so did Jay. This was the second time now that Neel had been distracted by a fight. He really needed to focus more. What? Why was I concentrating on the enemy why I was probably less than half way through the journey to my destination, what was I going to do? Give him tips the next time I saw him? Don't think so...

I tripped and fell to the branches, leaves and mud below, but it seemed to be a never ending tumble. I rolled and rolled downwards. All I could think of was Alice in Wonderland. There it is! The solid ground. I hit it hard and fast, my face sideways on the floor. I was at the bottom of the hole. I flickered open my eyes. No. Just the forest floor. I suddenly had the weirdest sense of déjà vu, like I had been here before. I can't have though, I hadn't been to this part of America before. Wait a minute...Queenshall Park...that's it. Wow, I was really bad at coordinating in forests, wasn't I?

"George!" Jay called, shaking my shoulders. Shaking me out of my sidetracking thoughts that always seemed to get the better of me.

"Oh." I moaned. _Back to reality, Alice!_

I looked up, it was just a slope. A pretty big slope, though. But that was just a silly excuse for 'Reasons why you might not be mad!', my latest imaginary magazine.

"Get up." He shook me again and I sat up.

"Kay. Let's go." I tried to stand up, but it took me two more tries to get my balance and get through the pain. I turned around to help Jay up, but he was lying on the ground, still. "Jay!" I shouted, kneeling by his side, shaking him now. "Jay!"

He was out cold, eyes closed. I checked his pulse, it was beating, quite fast actually. What was the thing they always used to do in movies. _Slap him. _I thought. It did no use though, and all I could think of from then on was the desire to lie down next to him and sleep. Sleep. What a luxury at this moment in time.

_NO._ I told myself. It was like refusing a hundred-dollar note from a millionaire.

What was I supposed to do though? He was out of it and I was injured, I didn't have the strength to drag him all the way back to school. I wasn't even sure if we were on the right track; I couldn't remember being pulled down and up a ditch on the way _there_.

Oh. Dear.


	28. Chapter 28

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 28: Home, sort of.**

I winced in pain for the thirtieth time as I strived endlessly to drag Jay behind the biggest tree I could see. He was light, the only problem was the wound in the right side of my waist that seemed to feel like a hole being punched into my body, and then the puncher being yanked out a million times over.

"Come on!" I groaned, pulling his arms. Eventually, I was able to sit him up against it. I bent his knees, in case they saw his legs.

I could hear them coming, ravaging through the trees. I didn't even know if they were in wolf-form or not. I didn't even know if it was Neel or the other two boys that saved our lives. I wasn't taking any chances.

We were still in the big ditch that looked like a crater in the forest floor. It _was_ a crater in the forest floor. My head was still spinning as though I had been clobbered on the top with Thor's hammer.

I hid behind the tree about ten feet away from the one Jay was leant against.

They were here now. I could hear whispering, and then silences, and then whispering again. I looked over at Jay to check he was completely hidden -not that I could help him now anyway- and saw his sat-up position that looked like something out of a comedy sketch. I sniggered a little and had to cover my mouth quickly. _Stupid stupid stupid._

I prayed they wouldn't hear me, and thank the lord, I heard footsteps leading away. Thinking the coast was clear, I tread silently over to Jay; but as I looked sideways at the top of the ditch, there were two boys stood there smiling. Raul and Aubree. They hopped buoyantly into the ditch, grinning now.

I sighed in relief.

"Sorry Emery couldn't be here to save you. He's busy." Raul teased.

"Ooooh." Aubree laughed. "Someone's in a mess." He looked down at Jay, a chuckle building in his eyes.

"You can blame that on your cousin." I gave him a friendly punch, but ended up regretting it as I winced, _again_ , in pain.

"Cousin?" Raul's eyebrows raised in surprise. "No no no, Neel's not our _cousin_." His eyes widened as he shook his head laughably.

"_Emery_'s our cousin." Aubree explained. "Neel's just from the same tribe."

"Tribe, right." I nodded, slightly embarrassed.

"Wanna go now?" Raul said, grabbing Jay and dragging him away by his upper arms.

"Where's Neel?" I asked cautiously, scanning the forest around even though it was obvious he wouldn't be standing metres away.

"Gone home. Why? Wanna say hi to him?" Raul joked.

I didn't laugh. "And his friend?"

"We don't actually know who that guy is. But I don't think he'll be coming back." He assured me.

"Yeah, ran off scared silly." Aubree laughed.

The truck was the same as the one Emery had driven me in. Aubree sat with Jay in the back seat, he was still out cold, and ended up lying on the floor of the car the whole ride. They asked me where to, and I had to take a few moments to reply.

_Bet they don't have a licence either..._ I thought, but then cursed myself for thinking of things that were at the bottom of the list of my priorities. Taking Jay to his house might be a bit of a risk. If his parents were in, what was I supposed to say? You don't just trip into a ditch on the way home and get that many bruises and marks. No. I would take him to my home. Home. I could actually call it that now. Supposing I'd lived there long enough. Yeah.

Uncle Matthew was at work, and Auntie Em was out shopping with her lady-friends until at least seven o clock. "My place." I replied after a minute or so.

"And where is that?" Raul asked, thankfully keeping his eyes on the road.

"1497 Windmill cove lane."

"Kay."

The rest of the journey was mostly silence, except for the occasional comment on a bad song that came on to the poorly-connected radio.

"Voila." Raul said in an over-exaggerated French accent whilst opening the door for me. Aubree carried Jay easily over his shoulder to the front door using his 'super-werewolf-strength' as I called it.

"Thanks." I said to Raul, stepping out of the truck.

"No problem." He grinned, closing the door and jogging back round to the other side.

Aubree climbed back into the passenger seat and I waved them off, smiling weakly. I walked up to the front door slowly, dreading the choices I would now have to face. It was open, Aubree must have found my keys on the floor in the clearing after they fell out of my jeans pocket. Yep, there they were in the door. Jay was laid across the sofa in the back lounge. What now? I thought, dropping the keys on the kitchen table with a heavy sigh.

First things first. A drink. I was parched, hadn't had a drink all day and was increasingly dehydrated from all the running from wolves. I ran the water for a minute to get it cold and then held a glass under until it was full to the brim.

The phone called halfway through my luxury moment of the day and I put the glass down quickly on the side.

"Hello?"

"It's me. You OK?" I was glad to hear Emery's voice instead of a panicked parent's.

"Fine." I replied in a less sensitive way.

"What happened?" He asked in a horror-struck voice.

"That's not the biggest problem. I've got Jay here unconscious and I don't know-"

"How _isn't_ that the biggest problem?" He prompted impatiently.

I sighed and continued my sentence defiantly. "And I don't know what to do with him."

"I dunno, hide him in the shed or something."

"Emery!" I scorned, needing him to take this seriously.

"Why is he unconscious?...For a start."

"Neel and his friend beat the crap out of him."

He obviously wasn't expecting that particularly humourless answer, because all I heard from the other end was an extremely quiet "Oh."

"And now he's lying on my sofa completely out of it." I sighed, still combing my mind for any reasons and or explanations I could give when I handed him back over to his probably manic-with-worry parents.

"Sorry I wasn't there."

"That's not your fault." I whispered. "Besides, it looks like Raul and Aubree have picked a side." I tried to raise my voice to a more cheerful tone.

"Mmm." He agreed shortly.

"Don't feel guilty, kay?" I told him, but my only answer was the sound of the receiver being put down.

I was quite surprised by the sudden desertment from my only other friend I could confide in this situation.

I trudged roughly through to the lounge, but stopped at the doorway to see Jay awaking and rolling over to fall straight to the floor. Fortunately, his reflexes where fast even in his bad state, and he held his hands out to stop his body crashing to the floor. He soon crumbled down though, weak with pain.

I walked rapidly over to kneel beside him and helped him sit up. "Ow." He winced.

"Shh." I hushed, stroking his hair with my hand. "Stay still."

His face crumpled up with realisation. "Werewolves." He opened his eyes to look at me with surprise.

"Yeaahh." I cringed, dropping my hand to sit beside him against the sofa.

"This is bad."

"Mmm." I agreed, feeling guilty for enjoying the moment.

"Are you okay?" He rolled over to me, his face strained with horror.

I opened my eyes and stared at him with an 'unbelievable' sort of face. "I'm fine! It's you that needs...treatment!"

"I'll be fine." He dismissed, still concentrating on me.

"You should probably call your parents. They might be worried about you."

"They're away."

"Where?"

"India."

"Really?"

"Late summer holiday."

"Late is an understatement."

He chuckled and I wished I could replay it over and over in my mind. It was my favourite sound in the whole world. It was the most perfect laugh I could think of.

I laughed at his laugh, and he laughed again at mine. There was a peaceful silence as we gazed ahead at nothing but invisible air.

"Your birthday's in two days." He reminded me.

I cringed at the fact he's remembered and turned to face him. "I know." I said in the same tone as his. "How come you remembered?"

"That time at the lake when we asked when each other's birthdays were." He smiled happily at the memory.

Okay, so let's test that excuse on a few other people then... "So when's Hayley's?"

He stopped all movement to think, and I waited silently and happily for his answer. "The...fifteenth... of February." He guessed.

"Even _I_ can remember that her party was in February, her _birthday_ was in January." I thought up someone else that was at the lake that day. "Addison?"

He took less time pondering on that one. "The...twentieth of... November?"

"December." I corrected, the date wasn't right either. There was a prolonged moments silence as we gazed into each other's eyes. "Mine?" I whispered.

"Seventeenth of March." He had no problem answering that one. And that did it. It proved that for some reason, he paid more attention to me. Because he liked me. Why? I haven't a clue. I'm a clumsy, disastrous, abnormal...person...with a messed-up life that has no possible way of being converted to normal. And he, he was a perfect, handsome, over-caring, over-nice, over-kind, amazing person who had a normal life until I was butted into it.

And now I had fallen. Knee-high into a puddle of affection. My material converses letting the water soak up and drag me down.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed him move in to kiss me on the side of my face, just past my cheek. Those few long seconds felt like minutes to me. He brushed away and gazed into my eyes once more. I stared down at the floor shyly though, smiling, and he chuckled again, turning over to lean back against the sofa. I should do that more often, just to hear my favourite chuckle.

I awoke to find myself curled up in the big, circular sofa chair in the corner of the lounge. Jay was nowhere to be seen, and at first, I thought he'd left and I hadn't had the chance to say goodbye. I walked silently through to the kitchen, and saw him stood in the hall, looking into the mirror holding his bloodstained top up. I walked through the kitchen and into the hall, standing beside him, and glared into the big square mirror.

I covered my mouth in shock, though I should've known it would be this bad. There were massive bruises all over his rib cages, blue purple; and red marks that were even larger. It looked incredibly agonizing. It caused distress just looking at it.

"Remind me to wear a shirt at all times." He joked quietly, pulling down his shirt and looking away from the mirror.

My eyes still stared into it, though, and he placed his hands on my face to point it at his. He pulled me close against his chest and I wrapped my arms around him, praying that the moment would last forever. I actually believed it would until after a while, he pushed me away softly and strode back through to the lounge.

He stopped in the kitchen to lean against the counter.

I followed him through and stood across from him. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, keeping them closed. I could tell he was in pain, there was no doubting it. He tried to hide it, but just looking at him, there were signs that gave it away. Like the way he stared into the space in front of him, not focusing on anything, just still. The expression on his face was dull except for the slight distortion from the hurt. I hated seeing him like this, but there was no going back now. No way to erase the fact that there was a huge, savage werewolf after us. Hunting us, angry with the bitter knowledge that we had escaped. That was twice now, I had run free from his terrorizing grasp. He was too set on making me suffer that he couldn't just get to the point and kill me already. He needed to drag it on, make it as painful as possible for the victim. Cruel.

There were three knocks at the door, and Jay shot an unnerving glare at me. I gave one back saying 'Should I get it?', and he nodded once slowly, taking a step further away from the door in case it was someone looking for him. Family perhaps.

I skidded over to the door, twisting the keys and opening it. Emery stood there impatiently, his hands curled into loose fists. I couldn't help feeling a little angry with betrayal.

"Hi." He said, glancing at me quickly and then avoiding my stare.

I said nothing, waiting for something that wouldn't be easily pursued by Emery and his defiant ways.

He sighed, and then mumbled something. "Sorry." He flashed a short, miserable smile. "Can I come in now?"

I opened the door to a little more than a crack so that he could squeeze through, and then closed it slowly, keeping him prisoner. Jay peeped round the door, recognizing his voice, and then stepped out. "Hi."

"Hi." Emery replied, looking at him cautiously. "He's awake now." He noticed.

_Well done._ I thought, but then decided I had to answer. "Yes."

"Then my help isn't needed."

He tried to walk away but I stood in his way. "It would be great if you could stay. You'd know if Neel was coming."

He sighed heavily. "OK."

"Where is Neel at the moment?" Jay asked, still stood in the kitchen doorway.

"My house. Talking to certain people. Well, arguing. He's a bit annoyed."

There was another silence, but this time it was awkward. I swayed back and forth on the tips of my toes and then headed through to the lounge. They both followed, and Jay sat next to me whilst Emery took a seat in the sofa chair across from us.

When he was distracted, Jay saw hi chance. "He's a werewolf too, isn't he." He whispered into my ear.

"Mmm." I confirmed, nodding.

He smiled wryly and shook his head.

It felt like an age before anyone talked. I became distracted with discomfort, not only from the silence, but from the what felt like a hole in my waist as well.

Emery smirked at the sheer difficulty he was so obviously causing, and I realized that if I didn't talk now, someone would probably leave. "We need a plan."

"Kay." They both looked at me expectantly.

"So..." I moved my hands, signalling for a little help.

They just sat there quietly though, the corners of Jay's mouth pulling up into a smile.

We discussed quite a few things. For one, we needed to keep at a distance from Neel. During school, Raul, Aubree, Emery and Leon would keep a close eye on him at all times possible. However, it wasn't going to be easy after lessons, and me and Jay would have to stick with a crowd of friends. School was probably the easiest part of it; there were so many other people that could be used as witnesses. Leon wasn't actually a werewolf yet, so there wasn't much he could do to play a part in any action, but he would be useful to have around. Emery said Leon aimed to stick with us, whilst Raul, Aubree and him stayed closer to Neel. The hard part was getting to and fro school. Me and Jay normally walked with Addison, so that would hopefully be enough people to fight him off when he _wasn't _in his werewolf form. I would have to stop running track at school after hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; and Jay would have to give up football for a while. Not that that would be a problem since we were hardly able to compete anyways. The intention was to crush any chances Neel would have at getting to us easily.

Later on, I couldn't believe my luck. I got two specific phone calls. One from Auntie Em, one from Uncle Matthew.

Auntie Emma was staying at a friend's house, because they were going out for a posh meal, and wouldn't be coming home till about two. Her friend had offered to let her stay and she said that way it would be easier. Great.

Uncle Matthew had to work a late night, until one o'clock. But seeing as he had to go in at four the next day anyway, he was going to get a little sleep whilst he was there. So he wasn't coming home either. Perfect.

This way, Jay could stay at my house. It wouldn't be safe for him to go home, especially since it was nearly six o'clock now. Emery agreed, and then I offered for him to stay too. He explained that Neel was probably still at his house, so it would be best.

I felt bad for dragging them both into this. Sure, Emery was already a werewolf, but all this was my fault. I had been the one to get involved with him, purely because of my interest when I saw his gang in the cafeteria that day. And Jay wouldn't have had anything to do with this if I hadn't fallen for such a stupid trick. It was simple. Neel had stolen my paper out of Miss's drawer, and then claimed that I hadn't handed it in. I should've known. Now it was because of me that Jay was beaten to a pulp.

I checked the fridge for leftovers, but there was nothing, so I planned on making pancetta spaghetti. They both helped and I found myself enjoying it. I knew it sounded bad, but I was actually _glad _that things were the way they were. I still regretted it all, though and wished I could have fun like this without having to go to school tomorrow and pretend everything was okay when it wasn't. For crying out loud, werewolves are real. Who knew?

Jay seemed to be taking it pretty well. Better than me, anyway. He carried on as normal, whereas I had to stand in the pouring rain, motionless, for about five minutes until I could move. And that was only because he was there to walk me home.

It was almost as if he had already suspected something. Or he had been in a similar situation. He had never really told me about his family, though he had been so deeply interested in mine. When I asked about his, he shrugged it off and said there was nothing to tell. I didn't believe it. He didn't seem bothered at all that his parents had taken off to India and left him alone to provide for himself. I'm sure he was capable, but when I had chatted to him earlier, I asked how long they were gone and he replied 'four weeks'. You don't just leave a fifteen year old boy in a house alone for four weeks unless they've got an older sibling to check in on them every three days. I don't know. Maybe he does. Like I said, I don't know a lot about his background.

I just know that he is my best friend.

**Hi Guys! Hope you like it so far... give me some advice if possible and please please please review! Thanks for reading :)**


	29. Chapter 29

**A Story to Remember - **

**Chapter 29: Late**

Forgetting to set an alarm clock may just be one of the silliest mistakes a human being can make.

"Oh crap!" I hissed loudly, throwing my covers off and jumping out of bed. The clock on my bedside table claimed seven thirty.

I threw on some jeans and a blue, purple and red tartan shirt over a white tank-top. These were the moments when I cherished even more not having to wear school uniform.

I bolted down the stairs and skidded into the lounge. "Get up!"

"What?" Jay mumbled, turning over sleepily on the couch.

"It's seven thirty!" I shouted, kicking Emery in the side.

"Ahh no." Jay shot up and hurriedly rushed past me.

"I'm too tired." Emery murmured, still half asleep on the floor.

"You sound like a five year old, now get your lazy butt of the ground!" I ordered, giving him the evils.

He groaned and I left him to struggle staying awake whilst I ran back upstairs to clean up. Jay was in the bathroom splashing his face with water.

"Forget something?" He asked, coming up to breathe.

"Shutup." I looked at him with squinted eyes, a sarcastic smile. I grabbed my toothbrush out of the small pot on the windowsill and carelessly squirted some toothpaste out, some of it going overboard onto the floor. "Oh well." I mumbled to myself. I handed Jay the mouthwash and brushed as fast as possible.

It was twenty to eight when we got out of the house. The only thing Emery had done was grab a bottle of orange juice out the fridge. We practically ran to the corner where me and Jay normally met each other. Addison was waiting anxiously when we arrived.

"Where have you been?" She demanded. "I've been here for _fifteen_ minutes."

"You can't have, we normally meet at half past." Jay argued, taking a swig from the nearly empty orange juice bottle we had shared on the way.

"That doesn't matter, let's go." I commanded, walking briskly along the pavement.

"Wait a minute." She paused, looking extremely confused. "Where are your bags?"

I shot an eye-widened look at the boys.

"We left them at the house." Emery lied.

"Damn." Jay falsely agreed, thankful for Emery's quick response.

Addison sighed hopelessly and walked on.

We all got a detention after school, Jay and I for forgetting our Geology homework, and Emery and I for forgetting our Art homework. Truth was, our schoolbags were still dumped on the forest floor about half a mile away. I explained to my art teacher that I already had a detention, and she took the opportunity to dump Emery in with our Geology DT. At least we were all together, it wouldn't be exactly amazing if we were split up into different rooms. That way, Neel might have been waiting for any of us. Including Emery. Neel knew now that he was defending me, and Jay, so why would he wait rather than seize the opportunity to get rid of Emery when he had the chance? I felt stupid of my paranoia as I sat pondering in the Geology room next to the other two.

We were finally let out at three thirty. I suppose it didn't really make a difference. I had nothing else to do after school today except sit in the lounge and explain to Auntie Emma why there were two sleeping bags on the floor, as well as a load of toothpaste all over the bathroom floor. Never-mind the sudden vanishing of a whole orange juice bottle which carried about one and a half litres.

I invited Jay and Emery to my house. It was a good idea to stick together, plus, I was a bit of a loner these days.

Uncle Matthew was home from work since he had had a late night and an early morning. Lucky for him, he had the next day off. Auntie Emma was in too, making homemade pizza's. I told her that Jay's parents were away, so he stayed here last night. She mentioned the orange juice, but not the toothpaste. She obviously hadn't visited the bathroom yet. Well, I'm sure it'll come up soon.

She greeted Emery and Jay as the happy person she was, and they soon felt pretty much mothered by her. Eventually, they were talked into eating dinner with us; Auntie Em's blabbering on about how I never have visitors was definitely cringe-worthy. Sometimes I felt both grateful _and_ cursed for having backup parents. Joking, they literally saved me; though I hadn't realised before.

Later on, I checked my emails. I hadn't been on my account in over a month, and there was a long list of both unimportant and important mail. There were numerous ones from my friends back in England.

Shian, Eve, Ellenor, Tasha... even Danielle had sent me one, and she hated computers.

Shian's (No. 1): Hey George. I hope your having fun because it's incredibly boring over here. You need to phone me sometime, I don't care how much it costs you! Plus, I need help with this math question. The homework's due in on Tuesday next week so hurry. (8x+4) (6x+10) . Your good at math, you can figure it out.

Shian's (No.2): George! Just to make you feel guilty for not replying, I'll mention that I got the math question wrong. Use your computer more! Seriously. I've moved up a set in English cuz of that project I told you about on short stories. Carley had a birthday party. It was to see the new film with those two people where they're left with a baby or something. I forget the name. Ttyl.

Eve's: Hi George. I haven't talked to you in ages, sorry! We still miss you. Also, everyone wants a picture of your school... we were talking about it at lunch the other day and want pictures of everything because none of us have ever been to Houston. Haha. Eve x

Ellenor's: Hey. Shian says you're not replying, so she's mad at you. This was just a message to try and get you to reply, I don't like emailing people so it won't happen again. Hope to see you soon. Bye.

That one I thought was extremely nice. It made me laugh, and Jay and Emery both said I have great friends, sarcastically of course. I caught them looking over my shoulder, and told them to bugger off. They didn't budge.

Tasha's: HEEEYY! Haven't talked to you in ages, sorry about that. Miss you loads btw, you need to send me a pic of your new house. Well, it's not that new anymore but still. I hope you come home soon, even if it's just for a few days, nothings the same without my English Class buddy! Made any other friends since I last mailed? Tasha xx

Shian's (No.3): I hate you, you haven't replied in ages. What happened to 'I'll email you every day.'? Please reply! I need help with stuff that you're better at.

Danielle's: Hello Georgia! I just thought I'd say hi, I was wondering how your new school is and everything. If you're interested, we were going to get our form to video-call you one morning. Miss Misen has agreed. So reply soon and we can get the whole class on the screen! Thanks, Danielle x :)

She was one of those people that sucked up to the teachers most of the time, and wants to be head-girl. She got level eights in almost every piece of work she did. You can tell she's going to do well in life.

I felt bad for not replying to all these. My friends probably thought I was ditching them for other people. Maybe I could be really mean and play the 'I got an injury' card...At least that would loosen the up a bit.

To: Shian

Subject: Sorry.

Hey. I'm reallllllllyyy sorry I haven't replied; I've been incredibly busy and had loads of homework that needed doing on time! Sorry about that maths question, I don't know the answer. Well done on moving up in English! I hope you're not too mad at me. That would suck. Say hi to everyone for me, thanks. George x

I put my name at the bottom just in case she'd deleted my email in rage or something. Honestly though... what if I'd died? They'd feel pretty bad _then_, wouldn't they. I clicked send and waited for the confirmation. 'Sent'.

"This could take a while, couldn't it?" Jay sighed, leaning on the back of the chair.

"I haven't replied yet and I'm pretty sure I'll forget if I don't do it now." I spun around. "Go play power-rangers with Emery or something."

"Ha ha." Emery laughed sarcastically and slumped down onto my bed.

To: Eve

Subject: Sorry.

Hi Eve, I'm so sorry for not replying! I'll try and send some pics soon, it's just I've been really busy lately. Talk to you soon, George x

That was my excuse I was now using: "I've been really busy."

To: Tasha

Subject: Sorry for the fiftieth time.

Hey Tash! I'm really really really sorry I didn't reply. I've been super busy and though it's a poo excuse, didn't have time. Don't tell anyone, seriously, I don't want to act like the centre of attention, but I've had a rough time with an injury and get tired pretty easily. The answer to your question: Yes, I've made some more friends. Well, the same ones, but we're better friends now. The American accents are starting to rub off on me...which I suppose isn't a bad thing since I could be here for a while. Miss you loads, George xx

I clicked send _again_ and then started a new one.

To: Danielle

Subject: Bad idea

Hi Danielle, that was really nice of you to try and set up a... video call, but to be honest, it's too much hassle. Thanks again, maybe I'll see you soon, George :)

I logged out of my email and shut the lid of my laptop, sighing and swerving around on the little desk chair to face the two bored boys sat lazily on my bed. "Come on." I said, walking out of my bedroom to head down the stairs, their eyes following me.

"Auntie Emma?" I called, slipping on my old scruffy grey army boots.

"Yes?" She smiled, peeing round the kitchen door with oven gloves on her hands.

"We're just going to nip out for a walk, won't be too long."

Emery and Jay both looked at each other and shrugged, hopping down the stairs one after another.

"Okay," She said, opening one of the cupboards. "I'll see you in a bit. The pizza's will be ready by about eight. Sorry it's a late dinner."

"That's fine!" We all reassured her, stepping out the door into the warm rays of the sun.

"Were are we going?" Emery asked, still squishing his heels into his trainers.

"Anywhere." I replied, still looking up at the sky.

Jay stepped forward from underneath the shade of the porch. "You choose."

"Fine." I thought for a moment. Places that we wouldn't normally go to might be expected of us by our enemy. Maybe going in the opposite direction of 'different' would be a good idea. So... a place where we went often. "The coffee shop."

"The coffee shop?" Emery sniggered.

"Yeah... the cafe. Got a problem?"

"Only that it's such an obvious location."

"I think it's a good idea." Jay intervened.

"Why?"

"He won't suspect us to be there." He said simply. "It's _too_ obvious."

"Plus, it's a hot day, and I'm sweating in my shorts just standing here." I pointed out. "I want to have _fun_. Go get an icy drink to cool me down. You might be used to this weather a lot of the time, but it only comes for about three days a year for me."

Emery sighed and gave in. Two on one. The numbers were against him. Even though he could probably balance it out if he wanted to by turning into a wolf twice the size of us. Ah well...

The village was quite busy, not as busy as a day like this would be back in England though. The shops would be packed with people running around for bags of ice and electric fans, breathing heavily in the humid weather that was so rare back over there. People would be getting out their sun-beds, lining them up so that they were directly in the heat and light of the sun, piling on sun-cream on the kids and watching them play out in the garden all day, splashing about around tiny inflatable swimming pools. This sort of climate was a luxury. Something that came around just for the summer, and then went away just as quick when we sunk into the much more chilly autumn. Nothing could compare to the rare hot summers that we got two maybe three times a decade, if we were lucky.

I snapped back to reality when the man behind the counter asked what I wanted.

"A... berry slushy please."

He nodded and filled up a large plastic cup, popping the lid on and passing it to me. "Four fifty please."

I passed him the money and thanked him, taking a straw from the pot on the counter. Emery and Jay both got the same and we went back outside to relish in the heat.

Well, we were okay now; bearing in mind that's we'd only been out for about twenty minutes.

Sitting on the little stools just outside the coffee shop, we talked over everything but the dilemma's we faced each day. Life seemed easy to others so happily strolling down the street, maybe I could live like that...after the big werewolf thing was sorted out of course. And when my Dad was free of the neurotic woman that held him prisoner. I didn't have such as a clue if things over there were better or worse. He could have quit his job for all I knew. But that wouldn't keep her away; she teased with his life purely for pleasure.

Anyways, I couldn't remember the last time he's contacted me, so I'd be better off getting on with my new life for as long as possible. It was just a matter of time, though, before I would get a phone call of some sort that a hidden emotion would be buried in. I communication that I was meant to figure out. Soon, I would be dragged back into it. I just dreaded the moment that would be.

The effect on me living here was taking made me happy. I liked it.

"Why don't we go to the park or something. Just sitting here is boring."

I looked up from my injurious daze to see Emery rising to his feet. Jay stood too and held out a helping hand, I took it and lightly pushed to force myself up. "Yeah." I agreed, putting down my half full cup and stepping out onto the sidewalk. "Which way is it?"

"Don't worry, it's not that far off." Jay smiled, still holding my hand.

When I turned around to the way he was gesturing, Emery was already walking along swiftly ahead.

We followed quickly to catch up and were at the park in no time.

It was extremely big, and filled with lots of people, some playing on swings and climbing frames, some sat down happily on the grass chatting. This was the hottest day I had experienced so far in Houston. We walked through the park for quite a while, sitting down a few times when either me or Jay were in pain. Tomorrow, I would miss the school morning to take a trip to the hospital. Ugh. Another check up, though I don't see why when my 'wound' was healing quickly enough.

We walked home after another fifteen minutes at the park, to find Auntie Emma just taking the pizza's out the oven. "Yum." I said when she handed me my plate. They were all mushroom, red pepper and chicken.

Emery headed home at nine, claiming that his Mum and Dad would be waiting. Jay lived about a ten to fifteen minute walk away, so I don't think there would be much danger awaiting him. He thanked Auntie Emma and Uncle Matthew thoroughly for having him stay for dinner, and headed home after giving me a little kiss on the cheek -which I wasn't expecting -before slightly promptly walking down the drive. I sat on the porch for a little while, watching the last stripes of sunlight across the lining of the clouds slowly fade away.

That night, I slept peacefully, despite the small guilty feeling that ate away at my mind, telling me I had ditched my other friends for my new ones. It was just my self-conscious though, and I replied that I was diligent enough without their many emails to answer. Of course I felt bad... they were only asking how I was, and for pictures and words about my transformed life. Some mails weren't as... meticulous...as others, but more, or, _less_ rather, careful.

Still though, I felt somewhat contrite for calling them my 'old' friends. I was always prudent when discussing the subject of new friends in my emails. Making them feel left out wasn't one of my aims. Though they shouldn't feel that for me, I wouldn't take any chances; really, I should be feeling sorrowed; they still had each other back there. I was the one that had to move and leave everything behind except my luggage. I was the one that had to start all over, somewhere far away. But that was a topic I wasn't getting into this late at night. I thought, glancing at my alarm clock to discover that it was now nearly one o'clock.

The next day would be...suffering. I would enjoy parts, I was sure, but occasions like this don't go unnoticed by even the distant of friends.


	30. Chapter 30

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 30: Birthday**

The 17th March. My 'special' day.

I was awoken at quarter to seven. They must have switched off my alarm clock, since I normally got up at quarter past six.

"Happy Birthday!" I opened my eyes to see Auntie Emma and Uncle Michael grinning at me excitedly.

"Thanks." I grumbled, still climbing out of my deep sleep.

"We thought you deserved a lie in." Auntie Emma said, glancing once at the alarm clock on my bedside drawer.

I laughed quietly, and sat up, my eeyore pyjama bottoms rolled up from when I had gotten too hot sometime in the middle of the night.

"We'll see you downstairs in a bit." Uncle Matthew said, smiling and then treading silently out of my bedroom door to go down. Auntie Emma followed, and I jogged to the bathroom, tucking my hair behind my ears to brush my teeth.

I was downstairs within the next ten minutes. They were in the kitchen, and all I could smell from the second step I had taken down the stairs was a delicious smell that could only be homemade pancakes.

Their timing was brilliant, as well as their knowledge. The pancake was still warm, wrapped up, the inside covered with lemon juice and sprinkled with sugar. "This is amazing. You really didn't need to-" I began, tucking into the delectable crepe.

"I won't have any of that!" Auntie Emma said, patting me on the back gently.

After I had demolished the rest of my breakfast, I was taken through to the lounge. Though I had continually asked for nothing at all, I could see one very big object stood bang in the middle of the room, covered in wrapping paper with 'happy birthday' written all over it in different colours and sizes.

I positioned myself defiantly in the doorway, refusing to move and open the large present. But Uncle Matthew pushed me closer, and I knew they would let me leave until the unknown object was uncovered. I sighed in succumb, and unfolded my arms, walking forward.

I ripped the paper at the top left corner, tearing it across to the right to reveal the top of the item. I couldn't believe my eyes, I had to blink more than twice to double check it was real. I knew what it was straight away, though I had only seen it on either the internet or in my dreams. No other instrument could compare. I slid back the lid, revealing the ivory wooden keys, and brushed my fingers along them. The edge of the lid was a gold metal all along the front, which matched the brand name written above the keys under the lid, 'KAWAI'. It was mahogany, beautiful. The keys weren't glossed, but smooth, just as I wished. It was a flat back, so that it would fit anywhere, but just as perfect as a grand. There was a two millimetre thick strip of red velvet just behind the tops of the keys, covering up what would of been just more wood, to make it look even more professional. The book stand had 'Concert Artist' written in a fancy font -in the same gold writing as the brand- in the bottom right corner. The top of it wasn't just a straight edge, but curved for more effect. It was electric I could tell, due to the volume scale at the right end, and the buttons at the left. My dream piano.

"You have to take it back." I whispered, and the shock on their faces was great. "It's too much."

Uncle Matthew's quiet voice responded almost instantly."Darling, this is your only gift from us and your Dad to you." He gave me a tight hug, and I swung my arms around him. I was surprised to hear him say Dad. They had probably all chipped in, as in, all the family I had.

"I'm serious." I maintained, no matter how much I desired to leap back in front of the piano and start playing.

"I know, but so are we." He retorted smoothly.

He let go and I ambled over to hug Auntie Emma. "Thankyou... so much. There are no words."

They both smiled heartily. "You're welcome, sweetie." She replied, holding out something from behind her back. "But your brothers got you something too."

I took the little box from her hand, it was black polished leather with red ribbon wrapped round it. I sighed laughably. I should've expected that nobody would follow the rules I had strictly set even months before. No presents.

I tore the ribbon, and embarrassingly, it took me about two minutes. Opening the box, a glimmer of light shone into my eyes off the little sliver locket neatly placed inside. "I wish they were here so I could tell them off." I smiled weakly; it seemed all too easy for the tears to well up in my eyes, I knew them so well now.

I met Addison and Jay at the corner near the village as usual. At first, they acted completely normal, if not a little ignorant; in fact, to my delight, kept that up until we reached the school... at least. Hayley, Rick and Olivia hopped out at me from a bush behind the gate with balloons and I nearly jumped out of my skin. "What the-!"

"Happy Birthday!" They squealed. Rick started doing a little 'groovy' dance and I laughed in utter embarrassment. I could _already_ feel my cheeks getting hotter.

"Thanks, but no more surprises..._please_." I laughed again quietly.

"Ok. But this is a present from all of us!" Hayley's voice was high pitched with enthusiasm. She handed me a big, white cardboard box, a gold ribbon wrapped neatly around it to keep the lid on. "Obviously it's not the only present!" She squeezed in before I peeked through the crack I had made by lifting the lid a little. It was too dark to see, though, despite the sun burning down from above, and so I ended up taking the lid off completely.

"Guys." Inside was a photo-album, but instead of a normal cover, there was a school football shirt sewn onto the front and back, as well as inside. "You really didn't need to-" But I was cut off mid-sentence by- the even more hyperactive than usual- Hayley.

"Shhh!" She hissed loudly, signalling for me to open it.

I was amazed to see that it was already almost half-full with pictures of all of them, including ones of me that I didn't even realise they'd taken. I smiled crookedly and thanked them all for the wonderful gift before heading inside for period one.

I had art today. Which meant I would be seeing Emery...which was good, except I only hoped he hadn't made the silly mistake of getting my presents like the others, no matter how much I loved the photo-album. He sat simply at the desk as I walked in, looking at the front of the classroom. Good so far. For the first five minutes of the lesson, he seemed in a daze and hardly took any notice of me at all. But then he sparked up happily and turned his stool a little to face me.

"Hey."

"Hey." I replied, still focusing concentrated into the detail of my sketch.

"What's up."

"Nothing really." I smiled in quiet humour to myself.

"Cool." He tapped his pencil allegro on the wooden table. "I'm gonna take a trip to the beach soon. Wanna come with?"

"Sure, if I'm free." I smiled again, knowing without any doubt that my calendar was surely empty.

There was a silence whilst we both returned our attention to our work as Miss strolled by our desk, assessing. He waited until she was two desks ahead 'til speaking again. "What's that?"

"What's what?" I asked, looking around confusingly. There was nothing too abnormal in sight except some of the abstract art on the wall.

"That." He nodded towards my bag which had two small balloons tied to it. Addison had insisted I have them strapped on.

"Oh. Just balloons." I said calmly. "Never seen them before?"

"I may be a wolf but I do live on planet earth, you know." He looked at them again with squinted eyes, before they widened in sudden shock. He slumped his shoulders and groaned, his head in his hands. "It's your birthday, isn't it?"

"Took your time." I joked, but he seemed to take it all to seriously judging by the look of horror on his face. "I'm joking! I'm _glad_ you didn't notice."

"I'm not! I look like a complete idiot for not even getting you a card or something..." He trailed off into another silence as Miss passed in inspection. "Sorry." He whispered, his eyes looked ashamed and almost puppy-like.

"Ugh." I sighed. "Trust me, it's not a problem. I've had just about enough with the birthday thing."

"Huh?"

"Well...it's just one day. Nothing special to me unless it's someone else's." I explained, going back to my sketch once again.

"Hmm. Well I think you should enjoy it whilst it lasts."

"You say that as if I'm gonna die tomorrow or something." I laughed weakly.

"I dunno." He murmured quietly.

"What?" I was instinctively alert.

"Nothing."

"Emery."

"You forget that Neel's still after you." He looked as if it was his fault.

"After _us_." I corrected, my jaw clenched. I grabbed the sharpener after pushing my pencil too hard into the solid wood table in frustration. Neel had a serious problem. The problem being that he seemed to take satisfaction in _killing_.

"Let's drop the subject." And that was the end of that conversation.

Addison had the school band practice after school, so it was just me and Jay walking home.

He noticed that I didn't look as overjoyed as some might on their birthdays and asked why.

"I'm grateful for all these gifts. I'm just don't think I deserve them." I replied.

"You do. It's your birthday. Enjoy yourself."

My mood didn't change though.

"Seriously... what's the matter?" He was insistent.

"It's just one day, nothing really special to me unless it's someone else's." I appeared to be repeating the exact same thing as before.

"It's _your_ day though." He said quietly, smiling.

I sighed unhappily as we came to the corner. We both stood there awkwardly for a moment, and he looked as if he were about to say something, but then decided not. He nodded once and turned to walk away; I did too, thinking that was it, but then got swirled around into a gentle hug. "Happy birthday." He whispered, and let go.

And then, I would have to walk home and describe the whole day to my awaiting Auntie and Uncle.

Not that last part though. That was mine to cherish.


	31. Chapter 31

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 31: Strangers**

Before going straight home, I sat down on one of the benches at the side of the pavement, deciding to soak in some of the sun as if it was the last time I would embrace the heat.

I had to get up though, before I ended up falling sleep. That wouldn't be good for my Auntie and Uncle, or my skin. The balloons had ripped off the strap of my bag throughout the day, and so now I was holding them in my hand; like a four year old, walking home tired after playing all day in the park. It must've looked pretty sad, actually, a fifteen year old walking down the road slowly with blue balloons that were already losing their helium.

When I got home, there wasn't anyone there; which was unusual seeing that no one had told me they were going out. I dumped my bag in the hallway and took the balloons into the kitchen, tying the ribbon they were attached by to the door handle. They just slipped away, though, and hauled themselves up to the ceiling gradually. I contemplated phoning my friends and organising something like going to McDonalds, but then decided I'd rather sit here lazily and enjoy the quiet. Enough was enough for one day.

It was twenty past four when I woke again, my head pillowed by a cushion. I waited for the something that had woken me to repeat. There was a knock at the door. I trudged through the hall tiredly, blinking rapidly to focus my eyes. I opened the door as wide as it would go, letting it swing back against the wall behind. There was a _tiny_ little black suitcase sat on the porch neatly. But no one to be seen. I stepped out, confused, leaning on the porch wall to peep round the corners. Still no one. This was probably a birthday trick of some sort, a deranged way of giving me something, whether it was a gift, or a shock.

I took the case by the handle and closed the door, not wasting more time, though I had no other ways to spend it. This really was deranged, because the case was locked and there was no key in sight. Great. Impatient and slightly annoyed, I opened the door once more and chucked the suitcase lightly back onto the porch step, before slamming it without much force.

I spent the next ten minutes playing my brilliant piano; I would've spent more, but another person came knocking. I opened the door, and the sun's angle lit up their face brightly, only for a second, before they stepped hurriedly into the shade of the porch. I thought I saw a glimmer spread across their face too, almost like glitter, but I dismissed that quickly to see who it actually was. A tall, dark-brown haired girl stood there, smiling tremendously. "Hi." Her voice was quite high-pitched, her nose little and her big, light brown eyes gazed at me wondrously.

"Hi." I replied, smiling. "I'm terribly sorry, but your name seems to have slipped my mind." I definitely recognized her, but it wasn't a face that I would have seen at school. She looked the age of about sixteen.

"Vivienne." Her voice was incredibly smooth. Like a silk ribbon slithering across the palm of your hand.

"Vivienne." I repeated, nodding. "This sounds...really stupid. But have we actually met?"

"Yes." She replied incredibly politely. "Though it was _quite_ a long time ago. I wouldn't expect you to remember." Her smile polished each word off perfectly.

I laughed sheepishly. "I know you from somewhere... So, is there anything you need?"

"I just wanted to stop by, ask how you were, and of course...say happy birthday!" She handed me a neat small envelope and hopped off the porch step. "I hope you enjoy the gift, it might just... unlock your curiosity." She skipped away over-happily, and I closed the door extremely slowly, not able to even begin to imagine what any of this bizarre 'happening' meant. Before I could fully close the door, it was pushed open gently.

"Hi!" Auntie Emma squeezed in, her hands filled with plastic grocery bags."How was your day?" Her excited voice meant that I had to make mine super enthusiastic.

"Great!" I replied, taking some of the bags from her hands after noticing her trying to waddle through the hall unsuccessfully.

"That's good, sweetie." Uncle Matthew stepped in and shut the door behind him, his hands also occupied with heavy-looking shopping bags.

I glanced at the envelope in my free hand. It was only small. My name was written on the front in fabulous italic handwriting. "Be back in a sec." I muttered, jogging up the stairs two steps at a time. I walked into my bedroom and sat cross legged on the bed, opening my bedside drawer and rummaging about for the wooden envelope knife. I found something that felt like the same shape and pulled it out. I sliced the envelope open and peeped inside curiously. What had this almost-stranger given me? There was a little turquoise-blue silk bag inside. I took it out, noticing that inside was a little silver key.

So did that mean that it was Vivienne that had placed the suitcase on my porch and played a little 'harmless' knock-a-door-run? Probably.

"George?" I heard Auntie Emma's voice call from downstairs.

"Coming!" I yelled back. I dumped the key and the little pocket-bag on my bed and slipped off, heading back downstairs.

"Is that your suitcase on the door?" She asked as I reached the bottom.

"Oh. Yeah. A...present...from a friend. They weren't in school today, so they left it on the doorstep."

"Well, go and get it then!" She laughed, going back into the kitchen.

"Kay." I said, opening the door and stepping out to grab the suitcase. But it wasn't there. So she really was playing games, or someone was, anyway. I shut the door lightly and walked barefoot to the end of the drive, searching for a possible culprit.

No one seemed to be lurking suspiciously, so I let it go. Maybe they'd run off once realising my guardians were home. I turned around with a sigh and then gasped in shock.

Emery stood quietly, smiling in front of me. He was holding the small suitcase I had been sent high in the air with his little finger.

"What's this?" He asked simply.

"What does it look like?"

"Funny. What's _inside_?"

"I don't know yet." I held my hand out palm up and he hung the handle on it, shrugging. I pushed past him not so gently and stepped up onto the porch. "Coming in?"

"Sure." He replied, jogging up the drive.

I shut the door after him, and dumped the suitcase on the bottom step of the stairs. Auntie Emma peeped round the kitchen door curiously.

"Auntie Emma, you know Emery, right?"

"Of course I do!" She laughed. "Make yourself at home." She smiled and then went back to unpacking the bags of groceries.

I ran up to my room, grabbing the suitcase on the way and sat on my bedroom floor. Emery sat quietly on the bed, fiddling with numerous things placed on top of my bedside drawer.

I took the little silver key and slotted it inside the key-hole that looked about the right size. I turned it slowly, and something clicked loudly. The top of the case fell back, and it was all of a sudden open.

"What's that?" Emery put down the War Horse DVD he had been studying for the last ten seconds and came to kneel down on the floor beside me.

I didn't reply, too focused on the object in the centre of the small case that glimmered in the light from the bay window just across. It was another little box, but a lot thinner and much smaller than the case. It was a glossy white with small little silver clips on the edge to open it. There was silver writing chipped onto the top in silver, 'ONLY TO BE OPENED BY GEORGIA SUMMERS'. I laughed out loud, and turned to face Emery, expecting him to be in a fit as well. But he was still, his face hard with concentration.

"Who gave you this?" He asked, staring at the white box.

"A girl called Vivienne. Well, I don't know if it was Vivienne that sent the-"

"Vivienne?" His voice was alert.

"Yeah." I was still taking deep breaths after my short burst of laughter.

"Pale girl, dark long hair, average height?"

"Yes." I replied slowly, "Emery, what's the matter?" I sighed.

He mumbled quietly and took the little white box from the case. I snatched it off him before he could lift both of the silver clips and gave a fake gasp.

"It _says_ 'only to be opened by Georgia Summers'!" I joked, undoing the silver buckles and lifting the lid, ignoring his sarcastic smile. I was expecting just about anything but a piece of paper neatly folded with swirls hand drawn around the corners.

I took it out carefully and unfolded it. I had only read my name before having to take another deep breath at how stunning this persons hand-writing was.

Dear Miss Georgia Summers,

I am truly sorry for the inconvenience, and the discourtesy of introducing myself in such a rushed manner; but this letter will hopefully help explain a few things.

I understand that your company since moving here has been a pack of wolves. Don't worry, I have known about them for quite some time. I will not tell anyone. Me and my family want to make sure that there aren't any problems with them and you; i.e. a maniac wolf trying to kill you.

Me and my family moved here a while ago, we learnt about the werewolves after only a few days, and we haven't had any trouble since. I do, however, advise you to keep your distance at times; their tempers are unadjustable and cannot be controlled. It's best to stay away. I hope you take this as more of a (late) greeting, rather than a warning.

Yours,

Vivienne

I read the letter in deep interest, a few subsequent thoughts trailing off in my mind. For one, how had she found out? Why hadn't she just talked to me at the door? Why was her letter so abnormally formal for such a tiny fraction of knowledge. So she knew about the werewolves, and she knew that Neel was hunting me personally. Was she intervening? I don't see why, since she hardly knew me and.. well... who would want to get in the way of a giant, vicious wolf and it's prey?

It was like my little personal experience of red riding hood.

"Let me see." Emery nagged, reaching for the delicate piece of paper roughly.

I held it away from his grasp, and shushed him whilst I carried on my thoughts.

_Vivienne_ couldn't do anything. Unless she had invented a super-wolf killer gun that would just zap Neel off the face of the earth. I didn't even know her. Well, apparently I did, but since I can't remember when or where, I don't think we're on the 'friend' basis yet.

Emery tried again to snatch the piece of paper from my fingers, but I held it away even further. "Let me see!" He insisted.

"Be quiet." I grumbled, standing up and pacing for a moment before I turned on him. "What's the big deal about Vivienne?" I asked, curious of why he'd been so alert before I'd opened the letter.

"I just recognize the name." He replied, shrugging.

I tilted my head, exhaling, and waited for a better answer.

"An old tribal friend."

"'Tribal' friend?" I asked, still clasping the letter firmly. "What does that mean?"

"Her 'family' has been around for a while."

"Meaning?"

"We'll talk about it another time." He stood up and exited my room.

"Why not now?" I didn't want to be annoying, but the curiosity was eating me away.

"Because it's your birthday." He groaned, heading down the stairs. I followed, shoulders slumped, defeated.

"Kay."

Emery said he would've stayed, but dinner was waiting, so he headed off. It was around six when we had dinner. Auntie Emma and Uncle Matthew both made chicken stir fry together, one of my favourites. We ate and talked for about an hour, and I felt the most comfortable I had all day. My birthday was normally more exciting for others than it was for me. This year was even worse. Sure, my friends were great and my best friends were amazing, never mind my sweet, kind Uncle and Auntie. But there was no exception for missing the people I had grown close to most. The people that I hadn't seen for so long. It felt like years though it had only been months. Day to day life was easier to cope with, but only because I had forgotten about my previous one. My other life that was lingering in the back of my thoughts and waiting to attack. I don't know whether it was the fear of it returning and sucking the life back out of me, or whether it was the fact that no matter what, this was temporary.

The friendships I had built, the family I had grown to, the light of living in a new house, in a new country, having no other problems but homework and pack of wolves. It was all impermanent.

The love I had for the past was growing more intense, yet so was the love for my new existence. I _liked_ having other problems to focus on. One being Neel's desire for my death, or so it seemed, anyway. It parted my mind from the things I had left behind, the disputes that were no longer mine to deal with. A huge weight had been lifted, but soon it would be released, and the burden would be mine once again.

Birthdays suck.


	32. Chapter 32

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 32: Unexpected**

At first I thought it was my alarm clock, awaking me for one more day at school until the weekend. But before I could press the button that read 'off', the noise had already stopped. I blinked furiously, wiping my eyes to try and focus my vision to the dark. 11:19.

_What?_ I thought.

I heard footsteps in the hall; the clip-clop of Auntie Em's slippers dragging across the hard floor. She opened the front door quietly, and I could hear small voices, whispers in the silent night.

I hopped out of bed onto my tiptoes, still squinting in the dark of my little bedroom. I crept out onto the landing and leant over the banister, thankful that it didn't creak as it normally would. There was light shining through from the kitchen, but not enough to identify the person stood in the doorway, their face was still just a shadow. I inched back into my room and slowly put on my slipper-boots that looked a little more like yeti feet. By the time I'd made it back to the banister, the door was no longer open and no one stood in the hall. I could hear the rambling of the TV in the lounge, which would be Uncle Matthew watching his sports. But nothing else, nothing unusual.

_This is most probably none of my business._ I thought. "Damn it, George." I hissed to myself, cursing my immutable curiosity that always seemed to get the better of me. I took one step gradually and carefully down the stairs, double checking that it wouldn't creak irritatingly under my foot. It didn't, and so I was a little less cautious when taking the second step. I was at the bottom within the next minute, and I peeped round the end of the banister to see into the kitchen. The door was almost shut, just a crack letting a little light through.

A small glimmer caught my eye and I snapped my vision towards where it had come from. There was quite a big bag sat clumsily at the right of the hall, just in front of the kitchen door. It looked just like a shadow, a silhouette; the only thing that stood out was the shiny metal thing attached to what I made out to be a strap. The light from the crack in the kitchen door reflected off the tiny object and into my eyes.

I crept quickly but quietly down the last step of the carpeted stairs and tip-toed over to the dark shadow of the large bag. There were voices in the kitchen, more relaxed now, louder, except the door seemed to be blocking them out, and I couldn't properly hear.

I pondered, for just a moment, on whether maybe it _was _my business, but then resumed to my infuriating cause for being downstairs at this time. Not that it was late, I was just over-tired by the crazy mass of excitement for my birthday that wasn't even mine. Mostly Hayley's to be precise. I shook my head laughably at today's reveries and picked up the little object that had caught my attention. I was right, it was a little key ring attached to the strap. I thought I recognized it for a second. Just a second. But then dropped it in disappointment. I couldn't think of a place I'd seen it, so exiled that part of my short-lived adventure. I leaned in closer to the kitchen door, looking down every two-seconds, careful of where my feet were. I didn't want to end up tumbling over into the kitchen in my eeyore pyjamas and yeti boots - that wasn't an option.

There were faint voices, which told me that they were in the back lounge. The TV's babble could still be heard, but it had been turned down, so whoever it was must be here to talk. I thought about opening the door and getting closer, but that would be too dangerous. I had to be slick, invisible, to carry out such a task. In reality, I was the clumsiest person I knew. Including Ellenor, who was just an immediate cause for caution.

I sighed, defeated by the truth, and hauled myself back up the stairs, my heels slipping off the edge of the carpet the whole time. I went almost insane as I lay in bed restlessly. The unknown guest hadn't left yet, I would've heard the door, I would have heard Auntie Em's slippers dragging back through the hall as she waved them off. I envied my undisturbed rest before, when I lay sleeping without a care. But now all the annoying little worries had returned, and there wouldn't be a simple way of getting back to sleep, not anytime _soon_, anyway.

My alarm beeped annoyingly, and I turned over, groaning, to switch it off. I sighed deeply and then pulled back my covers, swinging my legs over the side of the bed to force myself up. It was half-six, and I felt like I had only had an hour's sleep, if that. I trudged unhurriedly into the bathroom and looked into the mirror, studying the purple-blue bags under my eyes from the lack of sleep. Great.

I was downstairs by ten to seven, about to get breakfast when Auntie Emma came through from the back-lounge.

"Morning, sweetie." She greeted.

"Morning." I smiled, pouring some orange juice into a tall glass.

"You look tired." She commented, frowning at the bags under my eyes. "Didn't you get much sleep?"

"I'm fine." I kept a smile, though I felt like lying down on top of the kitchen counter and taking a long nap.

"Okay." She whispered, taking a seat on the kitchen stool. "Listen," She looked at the kettle, hunting for some sort of distraction. "It was planned as a surprise, but it didn't really turn out so well..." She trailed off into thought, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Someone came to see you, but they were late; so they're upstairs in the spare bedroom, and they're going to say hello later. They're very tired at the moment."

I couldn't think of who it might be other than a complete stranger whose bag was now sat on top of the hall table. "Who is it?"

"Just because they're late doesn't mean it isn't still a surprise!" She laughed, patting me on the back and walking back into the lounge.

The surprise was sort of already ruined, though. I knew now that someone _was_ here for me, so what was the big deal? My thoughts were interrupted before I could go into detail by the post dropping to the floor by the door. I went through to pick it up, flipping through it to see if anything was for me. There must have been about ten cards with my name addressed on them, and I realised that the post for some reason hadn't come yesterday. I left mine on the bottom step of the stairs, and the rest on the kitchen counter. I would open mine after school.

We got to school at eight o'clock. Bang on time.

"Grab some coffee at lunch or something." Addison advised, noticing my tiredness.

"Will do." I replied as we headed through the classroom door.

I wasn't surprised when Mrs. Hamilton called my name sharply in the middle of Chemistry. I was literally drifting off into a sleep, my eyes closed, head down, rested on my forearms on the desk, when the sudden alert that someone had called my name hit me.

"Yes, Mrs. Hamilton." I managed to choke out, sitting up immediately.

She eyed me warningly, smiling though, and carried on with her lecture. I relaxed my shoulders and slumped back down to the desk, only two more lessons to go.

At lunch, Addison got me some coffee whilst I sat lazily at the table. I hadn't even noticed she'd left until she came back with a brown, cardboard cup in her hand.

I thanked her and she smiled. "No problem."

"Drink it before you die, please." Jay joked quietly, nudging me.

I grinned weakly and took a sip. I didn't like coffee.

They all laughed at my twisted expression and I couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

Jay walked me home, all the way to my house. I told him there was no need, but he intended on heading round to a friend's house that lived near anyway.

"Thanks." I mumbled, facing the floor as we approached the porch.

He smiled, squinting in the blaze of the sun, shoved his hands in his pockets and started to walk back down the drive. "Oh, by the way... do you want to come round to mine on Sunday?" He asked, turning back around. "... For dinner, you know." He was so shy I found it hard not to 'Aww' at him.

I realised I was gazing at him for too long, and thought of an answer. "Yeah! Yeah, that would be great."

"Cool." He smiled again, still squinting in the sun, and walked off once more. I grinned to myself and stepped up onto the porch, getting my keys out of my pocket.

I twisted them and opened the door. I had completely forgotten about the guest that everybody else seemed to know about but me. I dumped my bag on the bottom step of the stairs and was about to walk through to the kitchen, but stopped in my tracks. I could hear _someone _in the kitchen. A mumble of a voice. Uncle Matt's voice could be heard too, and the scraping of a metal spoon circling around a pan.

I cringed, imagining my embarrassing introduction in my head. I would go in there and make a fool of myself as usual. It couldn't be avoided, it was just me.

I could go through my cards first though, as a distraction, and an excuse for not saying hello straight away. I drifted over to where I had left them on the stair and sat down, tearing across the first envelope. The card was from relatives, as where the rest. Some had money in, especially Dad's, which he had tucked a neat thirty-five dollars in. He said he wished he could be there, as always, and reassured me that everything was fine there. It didn't ease the worries that had emerged earlier though, and I ignored that part of the little letter. He advised me to save up the money, and hoped I liked the piano. He put at the end 'All my love, always, Dad.' I placed his card on my bedside table, but put the rest in a dump on the hall table, respecting them enough not to throw them in the trash.

I walked through the kitchen door slowly, to see Uncle Matt cooking on the stove as I had suspected. He turned and grinned, and something moving in the corner of my eye caught my attention.

"Hal!" I screamed, basically throwing myself on him with so much force that the stool nearly toppled over, taking us with it.

He laughed and hugged me back tightly. I released him after half a minute and stepped back to look at him. He was just the same... scruffy brown hair, young little mischievous face, and big eyes the same as mine and Will's. Uncle Matt stood silently by the hob, spatula in hand, smiling. I saw a glimmer in his eye that could only be a tear, and grinned even wider.

Burgers were for dinner. Uncle Matt had had the barbeque on and was doing garlic mushrooms on the hob as a sider. Hal played in the sun for what must have been the best of two hours, and finally came in when the sun began to set.

I wondered how long he would stay, but feared to ask. Just seeing him was more than enough, having him stay for more than a few days would be the biggest gift my birthday could bring. What if he _did_ stay for a while though? Then he would have to leave eventually, and my heart would be ripped out all over again. Maybe this time, it wouldn't repair itself.

The next day was Saturday, so I had no problem regaining the sleep I had lost. I woke up to another beautifully sunny day at half past ten. Hal was already downstairs, washed and dressed, asking to go to the park. Before I could say yes, the phone rang.

It was Addison, phoning to tell us she, Jay, Hayley and Rick were going to the lake. I asked if Hal could come and she said that was fine. I wasn't going to leave him here alone and waste valuable time. They all thought he was great, we took a football that he'd brought and spent about three hours there.

Surprisingly, yet _not_ surprisingly, Emery showed up, with his usual grin on his face. I took a walk with him, leaving Hal and Jay getting on amazingly well. Probably because Jay already knew a lot about him.

"So... Neel's given up?" I asked, walking slower.

"I wouldn't skip to conclusions, but, it looks like he's calming down a bit. His Dad intervened and they got into a bit of a scrap." He explained, gesturing with his hands.

"Is his Dad a wolf too?" My eyebrows raised.

"No, no. But the one person Neel's always obeyed is his father. Well, _almost_ always."

"Why?"

"I don't know, 'cause he's his father?"

"No, I mean, why _isn't_ Neel's father a wolf?"

"The same reason my father isn't... there weren't any-" His sentence cut off when he realised he'd said to much.

"You can't tell me." It wasn't a question, more of a statement.

"Sorry. Besides... maybe you'll figure it out."

"Can't you even give me a clue?" I moaned.

He laughed and threw a pebble out into the lake. I realised we were back where we'd started, and I could hear Hayley's ongoing babbling about something gossipy.

I walked back over to Hal and Jay, Emery following. "Hal, this is Emery." I said in an introductive voice.

"Hi, Emery." He said shyly, holding out his hand.

Emery laughed and shook it. "Hey."

Addison walked over to us, looking relieved to have finished the conversation with Hayley. "Hi guys." She sighed.

We got home at ten past two after a car journey filled with conversations about how 'cute Hal's little accent' was, and 'how nice it is to meet him'. I giggled at a few comments he made, one in particular being 'I wish I was this popular back in England.'

Sunday passed, packed full of more activities. Hal wanted to spend as much time as possible in the sun, which told me it was probably _a lot_ colder back in the UK. A lot a lot. When Monday morning came, he got up at the same time as I did, deliberately, to spend even more time with me. I still didn't know how long he was staying, but this couldn't be a good sign.

Tuesday went by too quickly, as did Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday. Saturday was back, and that's when I was told how long.

"Another week's okay, isn't it?" Auntie Emma reassured me.

"Yeah, another week's great." I thought that would do the trick, but I think the fact that I was staring blandly into space didn't help.

"Come on, sweetie, cheer up. For me?" She hugged me around my arms, and stroked a strand of hair away from my face.

"I guess I owe you that." I laughed weakly, and she stood up.

"He can come and stay in the next school holidays, I promise you that."

"Thanks, Auntie Em." I smiled, really smiled, and she beamed back in fulfilment.

On Tuesday, Will called. He apologized for not being there on my birthday, but we all knew that couldn't be helped.

"Am I going to see you anytime soon?" I asked, my voice hopeful.

"Maybe sometime in May." He paused, and I could hear murmuring in the background. "I think I take a break then." There was more murmuring. "But maybe the end of April. I don't know."

I laughed and jotted a little note down on a lined piece of paper lain on my desk. 'Will- End of April/May'. Not that I would forget.

"Kay, so maybe I'll see you then. When was the last time you were home, February?" He would have spent it at Dad's with Hal, which was only fair since he spent Christmas here.

"George, I haven't been home since Christmas."

"Christmas?" I squeaked.

"Yeah, it's been busy."

It was around half an hour before the phone call ended, and I only prayed he could be here in April. He hadn't promised like Auntie Emma had. He couldn't promise.

Wednesday, me and Hal went to the lake again with Jay, Addison, Hayley and Rick. This time, we took a mini picnic with us, and spent more time there. We even hired two little boats. One for me and Addison, one for Jay and Hal. Hayley and Rick stood at the edge of the water, refusing to get any wet further than the rubber on the bottom of their shoes. We finally got home at eight o'clock, and I was so tired I hadn't any other option than to go straight to bed. It was just as well, too, because I got woken up at one o'clock in the morning.

Uncle Matt handed me the phone, shrugging when I asked who it was. He stood their silently in the dark whilst I talked.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Emery." I was glad it was just him. "What did that letter say?"

"What letter?"

"The letter, you know."

"Emery, I've had about twenty birthday cards."

"Vivienne's." He rushed.

"Oh. Why?"

"It's just bugging me."

"And you couldn't wait 'til tomorrow?"

He sighed. "What did it say?"

My voice was a whisper. "I'll tell you tomorrow."

"That's not fair."

"It's _one o'clock _in the morning. _You're_ not fair!" I hissed through gritted teeth. Uncle Matthew sighed and folded his arms across his chest in impatience.

"So you're just gonna keep me waiting." Emery continued.

"Yes."

"Ugh. Fine."

"Goodbye." I said sourly. I didn't wait for him to reply, just pressed the 'end call' button and handed the phone out to Uncle Matt.

"Done?" He asked.

"Yeah." I sighed, falling back into the comfort of my pillow.

He took the phone and left. I didn't sleep for the next hour, but my eyes got too sleepy after a while, and fluttered closed.

I dreamt of Vivienne's visit. How her letter seemed too polite to be a threat. And how it made no sense for her to even have written it. What did her family have to do with the wolves, and why wouldn't they have told people? Mind... why hadn't _I_ told people? Because I was Emery's friend. Maybe she had been Emery's friend, but when she found out about his ability to become a wolf, she abandoned him. That seemed pretty unfair, it wasn't _his_ fault. I awoke before I could curse myself for being too judgemental.

I turned over to my alarm clock. Six o'clock. I only had half an hour before I would have originally woken up, so I got out of bed and trudged downstairs. I opened up my laptop, previously left on the kitchen top, and checked my mail. The replies from Tasha, Eve and Ellenor said 'That's OK, happy birthday for tomorrow by the way! :)" Something like that anyway.

Danielle's said 'Hi Georgia, I think it would be a good idea, but maybe you're right and it is too much hassle. Thanks for the reply. Danielle x :)'

_Shian's_ said 'George. You reply too late, I hope you feel guilty. Some people are making up stories about you. And I bet you know who I mean by 'some people'. Please reply, we don't talk enough. Shian'

Now I felt guilty.

To: Shian

Subject: Hi

'Hi Shian, I'm so sorry I haven't replied in so long...again. I do feel guilty, and you're right, we don't talk enough. But only because of me. What sort of stories? This could get interesting. George'

I clicked send and shut the lid.

"It's Thursday." Hal said as I walked through the door. He was sat on the bottom step of the stairs, his face blank.

"I know." I said, shutting the door closed slowly in suspicion.

"So I only have today. I go back home tomorrow, at one in the afternoon." His face turned desolate, and so did mine.

"So, we'll make the most of it then." My frown disappeared. "We could go to the lake?"

"Can we go somewhere else." His expression stayed blank with a hint of a cringe.

"Um," I thought of any other places that would be fun. I didn't know outside the area too well. My perimeter was the lake, no further. My own rules. "I'll go find somewhere."

He hopped off the bottom step and followed me into the kitchen. I opened up my laptop again and clicked on Google maps. I searched Houston and scanned across the area. "What's the limit." I murmured to myself as I dragged across the screen.

I passed trinity bay, and it looked incredibly tempting. I zoomed in, and then realised that next to it was just ocean. Pure ocean. I had to find a beach though. A nice beach, where the sand would be as soft as a rug, where it would slither through your fingers when you tried to grab a handful. The perfect beach. Was there enough time though?

"Is your ticket refundable?" I asked, still scanning the screen with focused eyes.

"Err, I'll check." He ran off upstairs whilst I zoomed out, a lot.

He loved the beach. I loved the beach. We all loved the beach. Which reminded me that Will could be coming soon, and it would be unfair to go without him. I'm sure he would understand, but it still didn't seem right to leave him out of it. Hal came running back downstairs holding the ticket firmly in his hand. He passed it to me.

"Non refundable." He sighed, sadness flickering across his face.

"That's okay." I answered, my tone cheerful. "Because Will'll be coming soon, and you can come back then."

"When?" His eyes became more hopeful.

"The end of April, or beginning of May..._maybe_." I added in at the end, trying not to lift his hopes too high. The last thing he needed was another disappointment.

"I hope I can come back." His voice was he sort of tone you would use when saying 'Sheesh!'.

"Is it bad over there."

He didn't answer, leaving my question a mystery. "Can we go _somewhere_ today?" He pushed off the kitchen counter.

"We could go..." I trailed off into thought. I was thinking of Jay's house, and that reminded me that he had postponed 'dinner' to this Saturday, because last Sunday he had to visit family in Central Houston. "I'll phone some friends, see if they're doing anything."

"Okay."

I picked up the phone and dialled Emery's number. Strange how I knew his and Jay's by heart.

"Hello?" A female voice answered.

"Hi, it's George, please can I speak to Emery?"

"Hi, George. Sorry, but Emery's not in right now, he's at a friend's house. Can I take a message?" His mother asked.

"No, no it's fine. Thankyou." I replied politely.

"Bye, George."

"Bye." I wasn't used to Emery being unavailable. He just seemed to be there all the time. Nothing else to do.

I clicked the button and dialled Jay's number next. I waited, but the only voice that replied was the answering machine. I didn't leave a message. When I did, they always sounded stupid.

I doubted Hal would want to hang out with another girl, so I didn't bother trying Addison.

"Well, I don't think we've got anything else to do rather than either go to the park, or sit here." I exhaled heavily and slumped onto the stool.

"Why don't you come with me?"

"Huh?" I said, yawning, not paying half as much attention as I should.

"Come with me. To England."

I had to think of a good enough answer quickly before he thought I didn't have one. Of course, there was the obvious reasons. "I live here now." My voice was quiet, small.

"Yes, but why?"

"Because it's too much for me back home."

He paused, deep in thought. "I don't see why Dad doesn't just get rid of her."

"Because there's something else. I don't know what, but there's something not right with her."

He sighed again.

"Anyway, we're not _at_ home. We're here. Now think of something to do... excluding more than a 20 mile radius."

I downed the last of the orange juice left on the side whilst I waited for a response.

There was none.

"Wanna watch a movie or something?" I asked, provoking an answer.

"If you want."

"I asked what _you_ wanted to do."

His mouth opened to answer, but the phone rang, leaving it hung open. I clicked the button and held the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, thank god. It's Emery."

"Hey. 'Thank God'?"

"I just worried for a sec. My mom said you rang, and I thought maybe something was up."

"Nope, same old same old." I smiled to myself.

"Okay, so what did you ring for?"

"Hal and I need something to do before he goes home." I glanced quickly at my little brother sat glumly on the kitchen counter.

"You can come to my house?" He offered, his voice raising in hope.

"Yeah, sure. You can teach him some dog tricks." I joked.

"Shut up." He laughed, and put the phone down.

His car showed up outside the house, just as I had expected.

"Still not got a licence, huh?" I sighed, opening the truck door.

"I can drive." He moaned.

Hal slid into the back seat and we set off. We were at his house in twenty-five minutes. His mum greeted me politely, smiling constantly. Emery lost over the idea of teaching Hal how to drive... I threatened to expose his secret, and even though he knew I was just teasing, he let it go.

Hal got to meet Leon, Aubree and Raul. Neel was okay now, but didn't join us. I still considered him a risk until he could prove he wasn't the same... Wolf.

I left Hal to play with those three whilst me and Emery took a little walk.

"Can I ask a question?" I asked as we walked slowly. "Or...questions."

"Sure."

"Does your Mum know you're a werewolf?"

"Yes. And no."

I waited for him to explain, twiddling my thumbs as I looked down.

"She knows I'm a wolf. That's it."

"Well, what else is there to know?"

He walked even slower, lifting his head to look up at the sky, and then down again. "Not much."

"So you won't mind telling me then?"

"God." He rolled his eyes.

"I said question_s._" I defended.

"It's not my business really. Hmm... it is; but not my business to _share_."

"Okay. I guess that's fair." I paused. "So what about Vivienne?"

His face froze in shock and then became all of a sudden cautious. "Yeah, what about Vivienne? What was her letter about?"

I thought for a moment. It had been addressed to me, and me _alone_. It wasn't exactly fair for her to turn up and just give me a letter that had no real purpose except to warn me about my werewolf friends, though, either.

"She said she knew that you guys are werewolves. Oh, and I think she knew that Neel was after me and Jay. Of course, that's forgotten now." I added. "She warned me to stay away from you."

I stopped to read his expression, it was relieved.

"The rest was just babble." I continued, slightly suspicious.

He changed the subject, and pretty soon we were chatting about our Art project due in next week.

We got back to his house pretty soon. I thanked his Mum for having me, and Aubree, Leon and Raul for entertaining Hal. Emery drove us home, but stayed a little while to have dinner before disappearing; leaving his truck on the drive.

Hal went home the next day. I said goodbye just before setting off to school; a wave of despair crushing me when I checked the clock in the cafeteria at lunch.

Ten past one. He would be boarding now.

Soon, I would miss him again.


	33. Chapter 33

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 33: Misunderstood**

I knew he was hiding _something_ from me.

Something about Vivienne? The last time we spoke had been over a week ago. He hadn't shown up to school, or phoned, or visited. Perhaps it was just a werewolf thing. Maybe they went on trips once in a while, to mountains or places with a more suitable surrounding for their profession; an enormous forest for example. I couldn't help but succumb to the feeling that he was avoiding me though. Wouldn't he have told me before heading off somewhere for this long?

April 14th.

Still nothing. I looked up Vivienne's number in the phonebook. Vivienne Galloway was her name. And I was intent on finding out who she was.

"Hello?" A polite, clear, yet soft voice answered.

"Hi, it's George Summers. Can I speak to Vivienne please?" I replied nervously, biting my lip.

"George! Hello, it's me!" The same voice spoke.

"Oh, Vivienne, hi." How was I supposed to start a conversation about werewolves? "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"About me? I'm open to any questions you may have." She sounded oddly formal, and happy at the same time.

"Sort of. About lots of things, really." The silence after that was awkward. She probably thought I was an incredibly nosy person.

"Well, how about you come to my house and we can talk then. I'd like to get to know you better." Her voice was quite persuasive. Still very happy.

"Sure. Where do you live?" I tried not to sound creepy.

"Nicholas Sawmill Road, the second house with the long drive. It's by Sunset Transition. Ask your Auntie, she'll know where it is."

"Okay, thanks. When should I come?"

"Since it's a Sunday, why don't you come now?"

"Great." My voice wasn't as enthusiastic as it should have been.

She put down the phone, and I put my head in my hands. This was surely going to be extremely awkward.. to the point of excruciating.

When I asked Auntie Emma if she could take me, I was surprised to find that she was good friends with Vivienne's mum. So, was that how Vivienne had supposedly 'met' me before?

It wasn't as long a drive as I had expected. Their house was huge, twice the size of Uncle Matt and Auntie Em's.

Vivienne opened the door before I could ring the bell, smiling triumphantly; her perfect, white teeth and her spotless, smooth complexion gleaming, though it was hidden from the sun. "Hello, Mrs Summers. Hello, George."

"Hello." Me and Auntie Em said at the same time, not nearly as formal as Vivienne.

"Please, come in." She welcomed, stepping to the side of the doorway.

"Well, I best head back, I need to get some shopping done. Just call when you get fed up of her." Auntie Emma joked, waving as she walked back to the car. I watched helplessly as she drove away down the long drive shrouded by tall trees.

Vivienne lead me first into the kitchen where the rest of her family were. They were all extremely good-looking. Their pale complexions all matched and they smiled gleefully as I entered the room.

"Hello, George. It's lovely to meet you." Her mother smiled kindly. "I'm Cynthia."

"It's nice to meet you too." I smiled back.

"This is my other daughter," She signalled to a golden-haired beautiful girl on her right. She looked about eighteen. "Annabelle." Annabelle smiled at me, but there was a slight hint of pity in her eyes. "And these are my two sons," she signalled to a blonde-brown haired boy next to Annabelle, "Maverick," He smiled. "...and Sean" A darker-haired boy smiled at me, the same height as Maverick. I hoped I would remember their names.

"Unfortunately, my father is at work. Perhaps he'll meet you later." Vivienne smiled again, and then took my hand to lead me up the wide, spacious, wooden stairs. Their house was immaculate. Despite how dark the walls were outside, the inside was incredibly bright. The walls were white with light-wooden beams up above.

Vivienne's walls were plum purple. Her bed covers were the same colour, and her carpet was a spotless cream. "I just redecorated." She said joyfully. "I got fed up of the same old yellow theme. What do you think?"

"It looks great." I smiled nervously once again.

She patted the space on the bed next to her, and I sat down. "So, what questions do you have?"

"Well, I hope you don't think I'm a nosy imbecile, but, I'd quite like to know how you and Emery know each other." I smiled cringingly at her, and she laughed.

"You don't have to feel so awkward!" She finished laughing. "Emery moved here not so long ago. Him and his family used to live in the mountains, north of Washington, or around that area. Before that they lived in Canada, I think. When I came here with my family, also from up North, we spotted them when driving back to this house, Emery ran across the road, and we knew that an animal that large was too big to be a wolf. We were on our way to report it to the police station when they stopped us, and explained what it was. They tried to hide it at first, but pretty soon we guessed, and confronted them a few days later."

There was a pause whilst I thought about that. Emery had never mentioned any of this. I knew he had moved here not that long ago, but he hadn't told me from where. He hadn't told me that there was a family that knew who they were, either.

"I spoke to Emery a little while after that," She continued. "...and he was very, very cautious with telling me about things. Apparently, _we _can't be trusted." She said it with almost disgust. The way she said the word 'we' made me go back to the question of who _she_ was. "We became good friends; but then his father told him to stay away from me, from my family as well. We made a sort of truce, you see; as long as we don't tell their secret, they don't rip our heads off." She chuckled at the end.

I flinched at that last bit. I couldn't imagine Emery ripping off an innocent persons head. Especially Vivienne's, who seemed to be this polite, petit, beautiful girl who's personality was as joyful as someone who lived in a fairytale land.

"So, you moved here a short while after they moved here?" I asked, not as nervous as before.

"Yes. Well, only two weeks after them, actually." She replied, looking out of the extremely large window which stretched from one corner of the room to another. It let in lots of light, but the dark walls of the room evened it out a bit. It was as if she was focusing on something else entirely. Then she turned back to me, swiftly, and went into more detail. "As I said before, we moved from up north as well. We wanted a change, though, so we moved somewhere much, much warmer." She chuckled again. "Just our luck to find a pack of werewolves here." She said, almost under her breath.

"Emery never mentioned anything about you. You know, that you knew."

"No. I suppose he wouldn't, I think he must like you." She chuckled again, and then tied her dark brown hair into a high ponytail.

"We're just friends." I smiled.

"Yes, good friends." She stood up and walked over to the dressing table against the opposite wall to the one with the window; and then placed a pin in her hair with a stone that looked a rich, dark blue on the end. "I think we should be good friends, George. I like you. Most normal girls would probably stay away from a pack of werewolves that have the strength to kill."

"Yes. Most normal girls would." I copied, as if to question how normal _she _was.

I ate dinner there, still feeling awkward. Cynthia made garlic and herb chicken along with new potatoes, broccoli, and sautéed mushrooms. Though I would have preferred to keep silent, I knew I would have to join in conversation, so I did my best to speak without my voice trembling. These were the moments were nervousness got the better of me. They all knew about the wolves, whether they liked them or not was something I intended to ask Vivienne about afterwards. They were all very conversational, and put effort into trying to make me feel as comfortable as possible. It seemed like they were making an unnecessary fuss for me, and I felt bad.

I liked all of them, they were overly nice and smiled all the time. It was just a normal, teasing, fun family, except they were just really formal, and too nice to guests that didn't deserve such niceness.

It turned dark at about half seven, and Vivienne offered to go on a small walk. We walked around the lake behind their house and talked some more.

"Do your family like Emery and his family?" I asked as we stopped at the edge of the water.

"Hmm..." She took a few seconds to think. "We used to, but they turned on us and we haven't talked to or seen them since." She looked across the water, it's ripples glistening in the light of the moon.

"So, do _you_ like Emery?" I nearly backed out of that one.

She laughed quietly. "Like I said, I used to, but they turned. He hates me now, whenever he hears my name he turns his nose up." She laughed again.

Maybe Vivienne used to _like_ like Emery. But then maybe not. I considered the idea whilst looking down at the tiny laps of water brushing against the edge of the lake. I looked up when Vivienne suddenly flashed her head towards the woods behind us. She wrinkled her nose and a quick wave of anger shimmered across her face.

"Is everything okay?" I asked cautiously, a little concerned.

"Fine." Her voice was stone cold, and there was no reverb left afterwards. No soft ringing in her voice anymore.

Nothing was said for the next couple of minutes. Eventually, she turned back to me and apologized. "Sorry, I thought I... saw something." She smiled, and kicked a small stone with her foot. It disappeared into the water with a small splash.

"It's okay." I said back softly. I was much more interested in what she saw.

"Well, I think your Auntie Emma will probably want you home now, it's ten-to nine." She began to walk back the way we had come, and I followed slowly, gazing into the woods as I did.

Auntie Emma came to pick me up, and Vivienne and Cynthia said goodbye with their wonderful smiles, waving as we drove along the long drive.

She asked if I had a nice time and I told her how nice they all were. She agreed and we spent the rest of the journey murmuring along to songs on the radio. Uncle Matt was there when I got home, watching the TV as usual after a day's work. I trudged up to my bedroom and opened up my laptop, checking my emails. There was one from Shian, one from Tasha, one from Eve, and the rest were mostly sales at B&Q and Dorothy Perkins.

My mobile rang at quarter past ten, and I was utterly surprised to see Emery's name show on the screen. "Hey." I said dully, after clicking the call button.

"Hey." His voice was agitated.

"'Sup?" I asked, fiddling with my quilt.

"Ah, nothing." He said, acting against the frustration that seemed to be building.

"Cool."

"Why were you at Vivienne Galloway's house?" He asked impatiently, giving up the act.

"B-, that's none of your -... where have you been for the last two weeks?" I stuttered a comeback.

"I asked you first." He argued.

"Am I not allowed to have different friends?" I squabbled.

"Why were you at her house, George?" He grew more and more impatient.

"I was curious."

"About what?"

"As to why you keep avoiding my questions about her. Why you were so worried about that letter."

"You could have done something else rather than get involved with vampires though!" He howled, sighing at the end.

I stopped my thoughts, and gripped the phone harder. "Involved with _what_?" I said slowly, confused.

There was silence at the other end. Then there were different voices in the background; voices that I knew.

"Emery, you idiot!" Raul yelled, and the phone crackled and made a splitting sound.

"Hi, George. Can Emery call you back?" Aubree asked politely, his voice calm.

"No." I replied. "Put him on now." I demanded, and there was more rustling sounds from the other end.

"What?" Emery panted.

"What did you say before? What did you say?" I rushed the words, running my fingers through my hair.

"Nothing. I didn't say anything."

"You used a specific word. I need to hear you say it."

"Creeps. I said creeps. Involved with creeps." He tried to reassure.

I thought my mind was playing tricks, but I could have sworn he said what I thought he did.

"No...No you said-"

"Listen, I've got to go."

"Wait! Wait! Emery," I stopped him.

"What?"

"Don't go away again."

"I have to. I need to stretch my legs once in a while." He laughed nervously, relieved that I'd let that other thing go.

For now.

I didn't see Emery the next day, or Aubree, or Raul, or Neel. Leon was the only one stood in their usual place in the cafeteria. Alone.

Feeling sorry for him, I ambled over and gave him some company. He was extremely easy to talk to, unlike other fourteen year old boys who tripped you up in the corridors and laughed hysterically to their friends.

He was sweet, and I could tell he hated being alone. He said they left him here every time they went to the mountains, to keep an eye on things, since he was the youngest. We got into a pretty deep conversation, and I asked when he turned. He said he'd turned for the first time about four months ago, two weeks after he turned fourteen.

"Why did you move here?" He asked when he'd answered my last question.

"Long story." I laughed quietly, and asked another question before my thoughts took over. "Do you like being a wolf?"

He laughed. "Yeah, it's pretty cool, I think." We were sat down now. "Raul likes it as well, and I guess the others do too. But Raul's definitely more..." He struggled for a word. "...Enthusiastic... about it all." He laughed again.

"I think it's pretty cool. Being able to run that fast, and having two different lives in a way. Like an escape from being human."

He smiled. "Yeah. It is a bit like that."

Soon, it was time to get to class, so I headed back over to Addison so that we could walk to chemistry. The rest of the day went strangely quickly, and the phone was ringing when I got through the front door.

"Hello?" I answered the repetitive call.

"Hey, George. It's Vivienne!" I was surprised to hear from her so soon.

"Hey Vivienne! What's up?" I asked, trying to sound as positive as she did. For some reason though, there was a certain ring to her voice that was so happy it was impossible to beat.

"I was wondering if we could hang out again? I get lonely pretty easily."

"You should come to school. Meet some people. Civilisation." I laughed. She had told me yesterday, somewhere in the midst of our conversations, how she hadn't been to school since sixth grade, and didn't know that many people except family friends and relatives.

"Hmmm." She sighed. "Maybe next year."

"But then you only get one year of high school!" I said sarcastically.

"Can't be missing much." She laughed. "People are always complaining about that sort of stuff."

My laugh faded and I sighed.

"So... how would you like to come to my house again?"

"Sure. What time?"

"What suits you?" She asked buoyantly.

"Well, Auntie Emma's out till five. So..." I waited for her to give a helpful suggestion.

"Six? Just for an hour or so."

"Great." I replied, and said goodbye.

The conversation I had just had was so easy. It was as if we had been friends for years. Reality... I'd only really known her a day.

Unless I was missing out on something.


	34. Chapter 34

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 34: Animal**

I walked into Art late, I had been talking to Maverick all lunch, and the time had slipped carelessly through my hands.

Emery didn't look at me, and I could tell he was still mad.

"Hey." I said, smiling, but his head didn't move. He stared forward indignantly. I sighed.

Half an hour passed, and we still hadn't said a word.

"Emery." I sighed, waving my pencil in front of his face.

"What?" He flared frustratingly.

"Talk."

"About what?" His eyes narrowed and focused on me with anger.

"Why you're so mad at me."

There was a long pause. "Because no matter what, you don't listen to me."

"That's pitiful compared to my reason for being mad."

"Why're _you_ mad?" He spit.

"Because it was only a week ago you decided to tell me that the people I hang out with are vampires." I tilted my head to the side, pulling a sarcastic face.

"Yet you still choose to be friends with them." He mumbled quietly to himself.

"They're... good vampires." I insisted, for the hundredth time.

"Whatever."

There was a slight problem with all of this... My friends' knowledge of the Galloways. Sure, Emery knew, and all of his brothers and cousins and relatives knew. But what about Jay, and Addison. This was just another thing that I was sworn to secrecy for. There were vampires living here. Okay...but not the carnivorous kind, or, not carnivorous in the sense that they drink human blood. This was so messed up.

Actually, I think it was _worse_ that Emery knew already, because, no matter how many times I told them how human they were, he had made his mind up a long time ago. Vampires were evil to him. They would never be good, or kind, or nice. To him, they were just ice.

Cold, cold ice.

"Why are you here?" I heard Neel's hiss over the rush of the students heading out of the main exit.

"Because my sister has insisted on trying 'a day in high school', as she calls it." I heard Mavericks innocent, sigh of a voice reply. Vivienne wanted to try high school. Just for a day. I must have made an impact by my sarcastic love for school. Right. "Is there a problem?" He said after a few moments of thinking to himself.

"You know the rules." Neel's eyes were menacing.

"The rules don't apply to this particular area."

A low growl escaped Neel's chest. I knew how easy it was for him to lose his temper.

"Vivienne!" Maverick continued in a happier tone as his sister danced up to him.

"I _like_ high school. Can we come again?" She grinned.

Neel backed off, giving up the argument for now.

Maverick laughed. "Sorry, but cloudy days don't come often in this place. We'll keep a watch out for stormy weather." He walked over to me, nudging his sister off his arm. I wasn't stood far from them, under ten yards. "Hello, George." He smiled.

"Hi." I smiled back. We walked to the bus stop before saying our goodbyes.

I waited with Addison for Jay, and soon he showed up. Something definitely wasn't right. He was too glum, and didn't glance up once from the floor as we walked home. He hardly said a word and I began to think maybe a close relative had passed away or something. When I asked if he was okay, he nodded silently and walked faster.

It wasn't until the next day that I heard it on the news. A mother and father of two had gone missing on the way back from their extended trip to India. Wesley and Lily Emerson. Jay's parents.

He wasn't in that day. Me, Addison, Hayley and Rick worried sincerely. It hadn't said they had passed away, or that something terrible had happened. Just that they were last seen at the airport in Calicut. I walked to Art with Vivienne. She insisted that she had plenty of time, even though lessons would start in approximately twenty seconds. Then again, she _did_ have super-vampire-speed.

Emery, as usual, was sat at the desk where we spent an hour every two days together. He noticed me, but he didn't look at me, he didn't say hi to me, he didn't acknowledge me.

"Hey." I said anyway.

He sighed.

"Please stop being so..." I couldn't think off the right word.

"Oh. Sorry. I thought _you _were being so..."

We both looked down at the desk in front of us for an everlasting moment.

"Vivienne's nice." I whispered. He thought so lowly of her. She was a pest to him.

"She's a bloodsucker." His voice had no tone to it, like a robot mechanically adjusted to automatically say these things.

"That's not her fault." My voice was still just a breath, but he had no problem hearing.

"Have you spoken to Jay?" He changed the topic. He and Jay had become much closer over the last few weeks. I was glad that he got along with _someone_.

"No." I replied, still focusing on the wooden desk ruined with graffiti. "He's not here today."

"Yeah, but I thought you would have at least seen him or something. You and him are..." He trailed off into silence.

"Good friends." I finished for him.

He looked up at me suddenly, a little shocked. "No, you're more than that."

"Maybe. I don't know." I wasn't exactly comfortable having this conversation with Emery. He seemed all at once alarmed by the answer 'Good friends'.

He shook his head and sat down. I copied.

"Tell me something." He looked at me properly.

"Hmm?"

"Why are you so... interested in them?" He struggled on the word 'them', like he wanted to replace it with a grim word.

"Interested? I became friends with Vivienne and Maverick _before_ I knew they were vampires." I kept my voice down. "I'm not so shallow that I would hang out with them just to find out stuff about their species." I was almost insulted.

"Pfft. Friends..." He smirked, looking around. "They're your friends 'til they rip out your neck."

I shoved him hard, not enough strength to push him off the stool. His strength was too much for the average werewolf, _never mind_ the average _human_.

"I'm serious. They warned you to stay away from me. I'm warning you to stay away from them." He _was_ serious now. His eyes were stuffed full with frustration and worry.

Sure. Why didn't I just move all over again? Because that's so easy, right? Of course, they were all accustomed to the word 'move', but I wasn't so familiar to the idea. I wasn't budging so easily this time. "I'm okay thanks." I whispered, picking up my pencil.

Vivienne left a note in my locker after last period. I went to get my PE kit and noticed it blue tacked to the back wall. _George, I think you should go and visit Jay. If you need me, I'm at my house. Vivienne x_

I sighed and threw the note back into the locker. I shut it with a not-so-loud slam and turned to lean against it. Vivienne had been around for a long, long time. So I trusted her judgement. I would go and see Jay. But I would be careful. With what I said, how I said it...Everything. I could only imagine it as being painful. It was almost worse than if he had been told any kind of news. Not knowing if they were alive or not. Whether they were safe or not. Having the problem of preparing yourself for the worst, or for the best. You could only expect so much before it was impossible to stay sane.

I knocked lightly on the door. He opened it twenty seconds later. I counted.

Under his eyes were dark purple bags due to lack of sleep. His shoulders slumped as if he could no longer support himself. His hair was scruffy from running his hands through it endlessly, and his eyes were barely open. I could tell he had been expecting the worse. A visit from the police, perhaps.

He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Blue jeans with a plain white T-shirt. He looked at me, and then looked down at the floor again. The last thing I was going to say was 'Are you okay?'. Nobody wanted to hear that. His little brother Charlie trudged through the hall behind him, rubbing his eyes. He was in his pyjamas with a fleece over the top. Only five years old. They could only _hope_ for the best. But at the moment, it looked as if they had no hope left.

"Hi." Jay said eventually. His voice was croaky and weak, it split half way through the word and I almost flinched.

"Hi." I replied quietly. His head was still hung downwards. Charlie crept in front of him and looked up at me with big, wide, green eyes. "Hi, Charlie." I smiled a little. He smiled wider back at me. I knew he probably didn't know much, if anything at all.

Jay looked up at me, his eyes squinting in the sun light that crept under the porch. "Come in." He whispered, putting his hand on the edge of the door which had been left to hang wide open.

He made way and I stepped inside. Closing the door, he ran his fingers through his straight, golden hair. "I wanted to stop by. See if you were okay." I said as he walked past me, wiping his face.

He exhaled and his breath trembled unevenly. "Yeah." His voice was a little clearer now. "Just praying." He looked at the wall behind me, thinking.

I wanted to distract him, like he distracted me when I was in a much less concerning state than this. "Have you eaten today?"

He shook his head slowly, his hand still covering his mouth from when he breathed heavily.

"I'll get you something." It wasn't an offer.

"You don't need to-"

I interrupted before he could refuse politely. "Is there some stuff in the fridge?"

Knowing I wouldn't back down, he gave up and nodded slowly. I walked through and opened the doors. I could make do with some chicken and a bag of paprika sauce. Enough to keep them both going, for now anyway. I turned on the oven to one-eighty and followed Jay into the lounge. There wasn't much I could possibly say about his parents. I couldn't say 'They'll be okay', because I didn't know that, and even though it probably wouldn't give him any more hope than he already had, I wouldn't tell him something that might not be true.

Charlie ate his dinner so fast it was if he had been starved for ten days. As for Jay, he poked at his for ten minutes before taking even the smallest bite. I could understand why he wouldn't feel like eating at a time like this. He was waiting for an answer. Any kind of answer. If he was left alone, if something _had_ happened to his parents, then it would take a while for him to recover. He hadn't seen them in so long, and now it seemed that he might not have even had the chance to say goodbye. The TV babbled, though nobody paid any real attention to it. It was kept on the news channel, in case anything popped up. Jay would be notified first though, wouldn't he? If they had any more information, he would have to be informed before anyone else. _Especially_ the news.

I offered to stay, and he shrugged and replied that it was up to me. Maybe it would be better if I did. I could help look after Charlie.

I phoned Auntie Emma and explained. She said she'd seen the news and was shocked. I could still go to school tomorrow, but I would make Jay eat before leaving. I didn't want him to starve himself.

Just before I got through the big gate leading to the entrance, Will called me on my mobile. "Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, George. I'm driving over on Saturday, just to let you know." His voice was tired and strained almost, probably from doing messed up hours.

"Great! Don't you want to get on a plane though? It would be a lot quicker, and probably less expensive."

"I'll see. My bike takes quite a lot."

"Listen, I'll talk to you later. I'm just heading into school now."

"Yeah, 'course. Sorry. See you soon." His voice was so happy now it automatically made me smile.

"Bye." I laughed quietly.

"Bye."

Emery was stood by the gate with Neel, Aubree and Raul. I couldn't see Leon.

"Hey, guys." I smiled.

Emery didn't look at me, but the others said hi back.

"Where's Leon?" I asked, sliding my rucksack further up my right shoulder. It was incredibly heavy today. Probably from the extra books I normally wouldn't have, but spending the night at Jay's meant I hadn't been able to leave any at home.

"He's sick." Raul replied, not looking at me directly. His voice was dead, there was no expression, as was his face.

Emery sighed in annoyance and walked off. I stared after him, angry. "What's his _problem_!" I mumbled to myself through gritted teeth.

The others obviously heard, but none of them answered. They said goodbye and followed him inside.

Vivienne wasn't stood by my locker like she had been yesterday. It was sunny again, and unless they wanted to look like strange people who covered their faces with glitter and wore long sleeved jumpers on such a roasting day, they weren't going to come in for another long period of time. Three days was all they had had, now the weather was back to normal.

I stopped by at Jay's again after school. I felt a bit like a caretaker. He looked a bit better, the bags under his eyes weren't purple anymore. They were blue. That was good... I think. There was still leftovers from yesterday, so I trusted he would heat some dinner up for Charlie later. I took off at four o'clock after making sure I wouldn't be leaving him to suffer like I had this morning. I had left in him in a bit of a state, and for that I felt guilty. At least he'd been fed.

The next day, he showed up at school, surprisingly. It was Thursday, and I would have Art. Another aggravating silence was on its way.

Emery wasn't sat at the desk this time though, he was stood outside talking to Aubree. Aubree smiled, and I did too. Emery, however, was not so kind. Whatever, it wasn't like I had been expecting him to be.

"Is Leon okay?" I asked when he joined me.

"Fine." He said, his voice firm.

"You sure?" I knew he didn't think so, but I _did_ care about him. "You seemed...annoyed yesterday." That was probably because of me, though.

"Fine." He said in the same tone. "None of your business, anyway." He muttered afterwards, very quietly.

"I'm just trying to help." I snapped.

He snickered. "Yeah."

"What _now_ Wolfie?"

"Let me guess, you want to help, but you don't know how?" He ignored my snide comment.

"Yes. YES. That is _exactly_ what I mean. Give me a hint... I'm _begging_ you." I kept my voice low enough that no one else would hear except him. And maybe the one other wolf in the room next to us, Aubree.

"It's so easy. I guess you find the easiest things the hardest." He snorted.

"Simple tasks can be made complicated. I'm extremely good at that."

"This is _too_ easy, though. I think it's so easy you'll somehow not want to do it."

"Cut to the chase, Emery." I sighed.

"Listen."

"That's it?" I joked.

"To me."

"Oh. Now _that's_ a little harder."

He laughed sarcastically. "Ha ha."

I sighed again. "Kay. Let _me_ guess. You want me to keep away from the vampire fam, right?" My voice wasn't as jokey now.

"Please." He pleaded.

"I don't know why you hate them so much."

"They're disgusting."

"Oh, because they feed on squirrels instead of humans? C'mon Emery, it's not like you haven't ever hunted down some road-kill." I tried to make the conversation a little lighter.

"That's not funny. Besides, don't go comparing me to... _them_." His hands curled into tight fists against the table.

"What's so different? In fact, at least they _look_ human." I cringed away from his face jokingly, but he couldn't seem to see the funny side.

"They're not human. They're as cold as ice. The only blood they have frozen in their veins is poison."

"You're being horrible."

"Whereas I, _I _have a heartbeat. No, I have a _heart_."

"And they don't? Emery, they didn't choose this."

"That doesn't matter. They still exist."

"What, so they're supposed to all go commit suicide?" I slammed my pencil down on the desk and turned to face him fully, paying even more attention than before.

"They shouldn't even be here in the first place. They should be in a cold, desolate place where they can starve themselves."

"Why do they deserve such cruelty? Tell me, Emery. Why are you so distrusting to them?"

"I've seen their kind before. Bloodsucking parasites."

"Where?"

"Huh?"

"Where did you see 'their kind' before?"

"When I lived up north. They killed people, George. And they'll be the death of you, I swear."

"That wasn't even them, though!" I nearly shouted, and I had to remind myself to keep my voice down.

"They're all the same." He obviously was in a very bad mood today.

I guessed. "What's _really_ wrong with Leon. You can tell me, I'm not exactly bad at keeping secrets."

"Nothing." He lied.

"Be honest. Or we're obviously not as good friends as we used to be." I played the guilt card.

He knew it was just a way to try to get him to talk, but he gave in anyway. "Stupid alpha. Says Leon needs to be taught a lesson." He shook his head in disagreement.

"Alpha?" This was new.

"You don't know him. He's too old for school. 20."

"What's his name?" I had the right to be nosy, I think.

"Biyen. We all call him Ben, though. Just a heads up."

"Wait, so how come he gets to order Leon around?"

"Why do you think, clever clogs? Because he's Alpha!" Oh, it seemed pretty obvious now.

"Oh I see. So he has _complete power_..." I meant it as a joke.

"Yes." Turned out it was serious.

There was another long pause.

"What did Leon do?" I asked after a while.

"Talked to _Maverick_." He used a silly tone when using his name.

"That's nice." I said at the thought of the idea. At least _some_ of them were getting along.

He gave me a 'what the hell did I just say about vampires' look, and then shook his head. "He's just a kid, that's the problem. Doesn't have the experience."

"And you do?"

"More than him."

I was glad to be having a proper conversation with him again, even if it was about his hate for vampires. When the topic was changed, it was just like 'old times'; we laughed and joked and were friends again.

At one point, I thought maybe I _was_ crazy, as he had described me as previously. What kind of even remotely sane person would continue to hang around with dangerous creatures such as these. Mind, I had been warned. And I wasn't sane. I was completely _in_sane. Probably even dangerously mad. My only dilemma was that I was getting _increasingly_ abnormal. Oh well.

I sighed.

"Sorry." He apologized.

Woah, wait a sec. "What for?" I asked, baffled.

"I shouldn't be allowed to be friends with you." He looked at me sincerely, and I pulled a face.

"I know. I'm a bad influence." I let the sarcastic look drain from my face and sighed, keeping up a serious act.

"Sure."

Again, _another_ pause.

"You don't need to be sorry for anything. I make my own decisions. And I decided to be friends with you."

"Friends with an animal." He muttered.

We left the conversation at that. Mainly, because I couldn't deny it, and neither could he, _especially_ to himself.

I walked home with Jay and Addison, except I went to Jay's house again. He was being given updates 'as soon as possible' according to the people that were trying to track where his parents were. He said they weren't getting very far, they were just trying to hide it with fancy words and sympathetic tones.

Charlie was so sweet I felt like hugging him every time I saw his little face looking up at me. He really didn't know anything about this. He thought they were just still on holiday.

Friday went by, and then all of a sudden it was Saturday, and Will had arrived. He met Jay, and Emery, since they were both at my house that day. I had planned for Jay to be there, just to keep him company whilst Charlie was at his Grandma's; whereas Emery had shown up to check that I wasn't at 'The Vamp Pad' as he called it. His sadistic hate for them was growing more annoying than I imagined it would be. Whenever their names popped up, he was there to make a cruel, unnecessary comment. Guess that's what you get for being friends with both sides of a natural rivalry.

"So, what've you been up to?" Will asked, taking a huge chunk out of the peanut butter sandwich Auntie Emma had prepared for him after his immensely tiring journey. Turns out he'd chosen to ride his Suzuki instead of take a plane. I told him most of the things that sounded normal, leaving out the usual stuff. He laughed at my fake nonchalance, "Kay." He answered after my list of things that sounded typical. His eyebrows were raised in obvious disbelief, but he knew me well enough to not have to ask what I was really up to. He still didn't have a clue, though. He hit the sack at five, too exhausted to carry on. Three weeks was the limit this time, which was amazing compared to the amount of time he used to spend with us, but crap compared to the amount of time he'd spent away.

Jay left at the same time, and then it was just the same. Me, Uncle Matt, and Auntie Em, sat in the lounge watching the news woman babble on about stuff to do with the government and supermarket prices.

Pretty soon, I needed something to do before I would explode. I had been so busy with Vivienne, Jay, and homework, that now that I was free, I was urging for some sort of pursuit. I went for a twenty minute jog, took a shower, and then sat back down on the floor in front of the TV. Remembering something Will had said before, I headed into the garage to take a look at his bike. Yep, it definitely needed a clean. He said he'd do it tomorrow, but why not save him the job?

By the time I was done, it was seven o'clock and I was ready enough to go upstairs and relax.

On the edge of sleep, and the phone rang. I grabbed it first, clearing my throat. "Hello?"

"George, it's Vivienne." Her voice was perfectly calm.

"Vivienne." I replied, relieved it wasn't Jay with bad news. "What is it?"

"I wanted to say congratulations on your brother returning home." She said buoyantly. I got to say, I was a little creeped out that she knew so much about me. That would be expected of a vampire though. She had some serious connections. Gave her all the info she needed.

"Thanks. Anything else?" I rubbed my eyes with my free hand.

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk." I didn't want to down her merry mood, but it was two in the morning.

"Can't you just go to bed?" I asked, as polite as possible. It was hard to be rude to someone who was so unbelievably trusting and courteous.

"I can't sleep.." She reminded me.

"Right. Forgot about that." I sighed.

"Sorry. I won't bother you again, promise. See you tomorrow, the forecast is that it'll be cloudy." Her exceptionally upbeat tenor was back.

I said goodbye and hung up, collapsing onto my bed once again.


	35. Chapter 35

**A Story to Remember -**

**Chapter 35: Deep**

I couldn't control my own feet. They seemed to be stumbling along a small rubble path, too hidden to be called a road. If there was a darker place than the blank side of the moon, this was it. The deep forest's trees towered tall above me, their thick branches blocking any light from touching the ground. I squinted harder, slowing down to recover my breathing. I could hear faint voices coming from a distance. Maybe it was Emery, or Vivienne, or Jay. They were all with me just a moment ago, but then something split us apart, and we were launched into different directions. Suddenly, I could see out of Emery's eyes. It was easier to view things, brighter almost, and every detail was enhanced. It must have been him, with the speed he was going at, the forest barrelling by as if on a concord. But wait, maybe it was Vivienne. She was just as quick, if not quicker with her slender, agile body. I couldn't tell, I only knew for certain that it wasn't Jay. How did this happen? A walk was all, just a walk, which turned into a runaway. Jay had come with me and Vivienne, leaving Charlie with his Grandma. But soon, he decided that he wanted to get away and leave Charlie with someone whom he was better off with. Vivienne suggested a little holiday, and I ended up tagging along absentmindedly. Emery caught up with me and started up a scene, shouting at Vivienne, accusing her of taking us away as a snack. She argued back, screaming at him for denouncing her of such a heartless, disgusting thing. Her calm composure was no longer there. They were on the edge of a fight, when the earth seemed to shake itself beneath us and we were all thrown to the ground. I got up quick enough to realise that I was on my own, they were all gone and the day had turned to night. The sun had been replaced by a poorly lit moon, reflecting not enough light to aid my vision. And now, I could see through someone else's eyes, a supernatural-being's eyes. I flickered back to my own sight, and realised that I had ventured further, and there was a shine ahead, a flare of light. I ran, as fast as my legs would carry me, towards the light. I was there. I stopped. My heart slowed and I could only struggle to breathe. In front of me was Jay, his eyes wide open, but not blinking, lain on his side, his neck bleeding furiously from a large, wound. Behind him stood a dark figure, they lifted their head and the last bit of breath escaped me. Vivienne.

I awoke with a gasp.

It was the same dark setting, but lighter. The moon was not poorly lit, it was alight with the shine from the sun, and it's power lit up the forest slightly. I looked around me. No one. Nothing but trees.

It was a dream. I knew vampires and werewolves were real, but some things were just plain impossible. I had not seen from Emery's eyes, nor Vivienne's. And Jay had not lain limp on the ground with his neck torn. However, there were things that I couldn't deny. We _had_ walked. Jay _had_ decided to leave. Vivienne _had _suggested a holiday. And we _HAD_ been split up.

But now, I hadn't a clue where any of them were. For crying out loud, this wasn't my first time being caught up in a damn forest. This was becoming an unconventional habit of mine. I gripped the trunk of the tree behind me and pulled myself to my feet. At first, my legs nearly buckled beneath me, but I managed to regain my balance.

More fragments of my memory returned to me, and the images swirled around disorderly in my head. I began putting the pieces together, one by one. First, the memory of a dark black, satin furred wolf jumping in on us as me and Jay stood helplessly watching Vivienne and Emery's argument escalate into a dispute. Secondly, the low, dominant rumble of the growl in its chest as the thud of its landing shook the ground, sending me to the floor. And third, a blackout.

I looked around again.

A tear of light blue, darker now from the dirt covering it, material hung from a thick branch . The patches of unstained colour caught my attention, and I staggered over to it. Another flicker of memory returned to me, and I remembered that Jay wore a light-blue T-shirt, the exact same colour as the uneven strip dangling from the branch. I looked back at the scene where the humongous wolf had interrupted the fight, and then to the continuing forest in the direction of where he would of ran, where Jay would have ran. I shut my eyes, just for a second, but a certain pull held them closed. A black and white film played flutteringly through my mind. Jay, running fast through this bit of wood, and then falling over a rock whilst looking back in terror. The strange little film stopped, and I opened my eyes. A small ache in my chest wavered, but went away as quickly as it came. I shook my head side to side, and then walked ahead, holding the small strip of clothing in my hand.

The small, little flicker of a film played for just ten seconds. It was as if I was there, running beside him. The sun shone in my eyes like it would have a camera's when filming an action scene. Weird.

Ouch. My arm. I looked down at it, and saw the small tear that let blood seep from that place. Nothing. It didn't even hurt that much. Ouch. My leg. There were stains of blood on my jeans around my knee. Maybe I fell pretty hard. I shook it off and ventured further, the same way the little image in my head had suggested. I saw a light blue colour ahead, and decided to start running. Jay lay in the leaves on the forest floor, awaking just as I got there.

"Ow." He mumbled, striving to sit up.

"Thank god." I said, sitting down beside him.

There was silence whilst I caught my breath back and he brushed the leaves from his arms. I scanned around us vaguely, but spotted something that rather caught my attention. A large rock, sitting just in front of me. Huh. Coincidence.

I laughed a little when I looked back at him.

"Something funny?" He sighed.

I took the leaf out of his hair and patted it down. He exhaled laughably.

"Know what happened?" He asked, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the moon.

"Nope. Well, wolf."

"I got that much."

There was a long pause whilst we both stared up.

"Stupid rock." He muttered, shaking his head.

"Did you trip?"

"Yeah."

"Aww." I joked, patting his head again.

"Well." He sighed, getting up. "Maybe we should get going."

"Where exactly, may I ask?" I asked, joining him and brushing the leaves from my legs.

"To find Emery, or Vivienne." He answered, still staring up.

"Kay." I began walking ahead, the opposite way to the way I had come.

He followed behind me, and we didn't talk for a while.

"Shoot!" He exclaimed suddenly.

"What?!" I shouted, turning around hurriedly.

"My phone."

"Priorities, please, Jay." I sighed, putting my hands on my hips.

"No, I mean..." He took an object from his back pocket. "...Does Emery have a phone on him?"

"Umm..." _Emery doesn't even have a phone_. "No."

"Vivienne?"

"Yes. But I don't know her number."

He sighed in failure and passed me the phone. "You're in charge."

"You're putting_ me_ in charge?" He obviously didn't have a clue what he was doing. I tried to hand the iphone back. "No."

"You better than me." He raised his hands.

"Fine." I said sarcastically, looking at the time on the slightly scratched, shiny screen. Eleven-thirty. I sighed. People would be worrying.

"C'mon." He said, holding out his hand. I took it and we walked further.

It was a big forest. It felt like we had walked for miles and miles. I checked the phone every once in a while. Jay refused to take it back every time I offered, claiming that he never wanted it anyway. I asked why and he said it was a present from his Dad before going to India. I apologized and he said 'It's OK.' Typical, short, movie conversation type thing.

It was twelve-twenty, about an hour later, when we crossed a tree trunk with a small bit of blood smudged across it. I shuddered as Jay looked closely at it.

"Do you think maybe..." He trailed off. Everything slowed down, and my vision turned black and white.

Emery, in his wolf form, being chased by the looks of it. He raced hell for leather through the trees, coming from a familiar path. It was daylight again, and his fur shone brightly, black where the darker patches of brown marked his fur. He kept his head forward, focused, too concentrated to risk looking back. Unexpectedly, he shook his head, and his stride faltered. He stumbled a few feet, before hitting a tree. My sight focused on a branch, ensnared in his skin, causing a tear. He shook it off and continued his run, getting back into stride more-than-easily. I followed his intense path, heading forward, seemingly anywhere.

"George?" Jay's voice brought me back to sanity. My vision veered back to normal, and I shook my head, widening my eyes and then blinking furiously. "You okay?"

"Fine." I answered glancing towards the tree one more time. "Let's go."

He nodded once and then followed my footsteps in the direction that, oddly, matched the path in my 'little film'.

Maybe I was going completely insane. _Maybe_ my mind had been filled to the brim with so much crap that there wasn't any more space. _Maybe_ I needed to sign for a mental home placement.

I checked the phone again. Twelve twenty-six. We walked forward for another hour, searching all around for any sight of Emery or Vivienne. They probably wouldn't even be anywhere near here. Both of them were quick enough to just zap out of here in no time. They wouldn't hang around for us to wake up and walk slowly to civilization. I could understand why though; why Jay wanted to look for them instead of walk back the way we'd come yesterday. He didn't want to go back and have to carry on the way things were. He wanted some freedom to do what he'd like.

We stopped for a few minutes, and sat down on the edge of a small ditch covered in tree roots.

"Still up for a small holiday?" I asked, laughing quietly.

"I think this _is_ our small holiday." He laughed a little too.

There was silence except for birds tweeting and leaves blowing in the gentle wind which felt quite humid. I listened intently to the sound it made, and there was a new, strange sound that didn't fit in with the rest. An almost rumbling kind of sound from a distance. Faint snoring.

I rose to my feet to see if I could listen better.

"Hey, what's the-"

"Shhh." I hissed, interrupting Jay.

"Kay." He mumbled diffidently.

I listened, and the extraordinary noise continued.

"Come with me." I giggled.

"Okay." His voice implied that I was crazy. I couldn't blame him.

It was like hot or cold, I changed directions each time the sound got louder or quieter. Eventually, it became so loud I knew I was too close. I looked up at the large tree above me to see Emery relaxed without difficulty on the biggest branch; arms folded and leant against the trunk. I searched around my feet for a moment, and then picked up a stone. I threw it at him, not caring how hard it would hit. It wouldn't bruise him anyway.

He woke up with a snort and Jay and I laughed.

"What the hell was that for?" He responded loudly, jumping down.

"Well, a feather wasn't going to wake you up." I explained.

He sniggered a sarcastic snort. "Sure. Where's the psycho?" His voice switched to bitter mode.

"You mean Vivienne." I corrected. "We don't know."

He sneered quietly. "Probably left you for dead."

"Like you did?" I folded my arms across my chest and raised my eyebrows.

He looked back at me with betrayal smeared all over his face. "I looked for you everywhere!"

"Yeah, before taking a nap." Jay chuckled.

I laughed a little and Emery stomped off sulkily, which only transformed my laugh into a louder chortle.

"Okay, I'm sorry." I laughed after him, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Apology accepted...sort of." He came back to us and leant against the tree. "So, how'd you find me?"

"We just kept an eye out." Jay reasoned simply. At least that saved me from explaining that I had a tiny little movie in my head that showed weirded out videos of the past. Just my demented mind deciding to play tricks on me.

I looked up at the moon. It was a clear sky, and the stars shone brightly, some big, some small.

"Cool. What's the date?" Emery asked, yawning.

I pulled the iphone from my pocket. "First of May." My voice broke halfway. The numbers on the screen shocked me. It felt like yesterday was the first of April. I should keep an eye on the time more often.

"Guess your trip with 'Vivienne'..." Emery mimicked her name, "...didn't go so well then." He smirked.

"Yeah, 'cause _you_ showed up." I argued.

I heard Jay give a small sigh.

"You shouldn't have even been with her in the first place." Emery muttered under his breath.

"I can be friends with whoever I like. You're not my Mum."

"Really? Man, does that mean I'm a boy?" His face was heavy with sarcastic shock.

"Shutup, Emily." If he could make jokes, so could I.

"So I'm not your Mom, I'm your Auntie instead."

"No, my Auntie's name is _Emma_."

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't memorize all your family's names." His voice was harsh.

"Just correcting." I defended, smiling to myself.

"Yeah, you're good at that."

"Meaning?"

"Everything has to be _your_ way."

"Of course it does. I'm a super control freak." I flapped my arms once in an act of helplessness.

The edge to his voice was cruel. "I don't know how I could stand you for this long." He almost spit the words. His hands trembled, I didn't realise it was that easy to get him worked up.

"Hey." Jay interrupted defensively.

Emery scoffed. "Ha."

"What?" Jay asked, and Emery shook his head.

"It's petty!" He laughed.

"What is?"

Emery guffawed.

"George, let's find Vivienne." Jay turned to me, his expression fed up.

"Let's." I agreed, giving Emery one last look of cynicism.

He followed us, but from a distance. It was strange how suddenly arguments could surface. Jay wanted to look for Vivienne, and even though I knew she'd be long gone by now, maybe even at home, I had to oblige. How was I supposed to just pop it on him that she was a vampire? Me and Emery had played it dangerously close when we argued before. In fact, I bet Jay was pondering right now on the thought of why Emery didn't want me hanging out with Vivienne. I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons for why I was restricted from seeing her. A rare, highly contagious disease, perhaps.

Eventually, we got too tired and slowed to a stop. We being me and Jay; Emery was as energetic as a squirrel on coffee.

"Well," Emery said eventually. "I think Vivienne's long gone. Most likely she ditched you way back."

"What if she didn't though? We can't just leave without her." Jay replied.

"There's probably miles and miles of continuous forest." I sighed, rubbing my eyes. Emery took the phone from one of the pockets in his shorts and my mouth gaped open. "How did you get that?!"

"Fell out your pocket way back..." He shrugged.

I checked the pockets of my burgundy sweater just to be sure. I sighed again and looked down at the bottom of my jeans. They weren't as dirty as I had expected. That was _one_ thing Auntie Emma wouldn't kill me for.

"Why don't we all go back and tell the police to look for her. No point wasting time." Emery gibed.

Jay shrugged. "George?"

"Might be a good idea." I fantasized what hell would break loose when we returned all scruffy and tired. I chuckled.

"Let's go then." Emery said enthusiastically.

I groaned. "Can't we sit down for a little longer?"

"No."

"Please?" I begged.

"No. Get up."

I rolled my eyes and rose to my feet, brushing my hair away from my face.

"Which way are we going then?" Jay asked.

"This way." Emery replied immediately, walking on. "We can get a bus back to where you live."

I nodded and followed, as did Jay.

It took us about three hours to reach a road. By that time it was four thirty and the moon had travelled to the other side of the sky. We found a bus stop at one point, which stated the next one would be at five. Luckily, Emery had spare change in his pocket, enough for us all to ride. It turned out we'd ventured near Lake Conroe, and the forest around there was altogether quite vast. I stared out of the window, watching sunlight slowly creep over the horizon. We had now been gone a whole day and a whole night. My impression on people was growing increasingly poor. It was paradoxically peaceful being the only three people on the bus. It finally stopped at 'Louetta Automotive', about six blocks from my house, and we thanked him and got off. He gave us some slightly sceptical, suspicious looks as we left. Normal since we had leaves in our hair and splotches of mud around our ankles. Not to mention the dirt on Emery and Jay's faces. Ha.

I knocked on the door, and Auntie Emma opened it about a minute later, her face tired, yet oddly unsurprised. I had expected worse from _my_ experience. Maybe the worst was yet to come.

"You're back early." She yawned.

"Um..." I drifted off, zilch to say.

"Vivienne told me you went camping, how was it?"

Again, I was blank, no words departed. "Oh." I blurted abruptly. "Good."

"Next time, tell me where you're going. I was beginning to get worried." It was too early in the morning for her to raise her voice high enough for that to seem like an order.

"Kay." I stepped inside. Jay and Emery waved before heading down the drive.

Auntie Emma went back up to bed but I decided to stay downstairs. Though I had been up all night, I didn't feel like sleeping. Looks like Vivienne had saved my lazy ass. She always knew what to do. Experience probably. Lots of experience.

Will came down at eight and woke me up, switching off the repeat of friends that I had fallen asleep watching.

Yawn.

"Where've you been?" He asked, slumping down on the sofa next to me.

"Camping."

"Ha. Right." He laughed once.

"Fine. Camping near Lake Conroe."

"Uhum." He nodded, faking an agreement.

"What?" I moaned, letting my head fall back against the sofa.

"Nothing." He flickered through the channels.

I sighed. I should have known Will could see straight through me. "Problem?"

"Nope."

"Shutup then." I threw a cushion at him.

He laughed and turned the TV up.

The phone called later on and Will handed it to me. "Vivienne?" He shrugged.

"Hello?" I said after taking the phone from him.

"Hello, George." Her perfectly amiable voice replied.

"Thanks for..." I glanced at Will, he seemed engrossed in the TV programme, but I exited the room anyway. "...covering for me."

"No problem." I could almost hear her grin. "What time did you get back?"

"Six. I think. And you?"

"Oh, ages ago." That probably meant the minute she knew I and Jay were safe enough to sleep unharmed.

"Do you know what happened?" I asked, writing down bread on the shopping list on the kitchen bench.

"Yes. A mongrel interrupted our quite perfect walk." She was referring to Emery.

"Yes, but after that..."

"Oh. _Another_ mongrel interrupted our _almost_ perfect walk."

"Vivienne..." I sighed. "I got that part already."

"OK. The packs _Alpha_..._Biyen_... came to shout at Emery. They hate vampires, as you can already imagine." I could.

"What did Emery do?"

"Well, Biyen found out that he was with me, and ... didn't like the idea. As usual."

"Oh, so what happened after? Did he just leave?"

"He chased me away first, and then decided to go after Emery." She sighed. "Not even his property." She muttered afterwards.

"'_His property'_?" I asked, writing down stock cubes on the list now.

"We have a truce, as long as we stick to our part of land, and they stick to theirs, no problem. Lake Conroe...that's basically no man's land." She paused for two seconds. "They live on the Alabama-Coushatta reservation. Further away from Lake Conroe. _We're_ closer to Lake Conroe. So I guess that could be part of our land. But that never really popped up..." She sounded like she was talking to herself instead of me. "...We have Grand Lake side of Conroe, they have Woodloch side, so..." She murmured, trailing off to work something out.

I waited silently.

"Hmm. Interesting."

"What?"

"Biyen had the guts to kick us out of what's already ours." Her voice was frustrated, almost a snarl.

"What's already yours?"

"When we created a truce, we decided that we would have the left side of the North 45, and they would have the right side. That road goes straight through Conroe. So fair enough, they get the most of there. But guess which side _Lake_ Conroe is on."

She stopped, waiting for me to answer. "The left side?"

"Exactly."

"So Lake Conroe's yours."

"Yes."

"When did you and the wolves decide to half Houston then?" I joked, still wanting a serious answer though.

"When we got here." She replied simply with a small laugh. There was a pause whilst she thought again. "Haha. That means we get Lake Raven as well." She mused. "Of course, they get all of the forest on the 156 side. Oh well." She muttered to herself.

"Looks like you know the area well."

"Yep."

"Anyway, thanks again." I said, writing down Bran Flakes on the list. I would check the fridge next.

"Like I said, no problem. Could be cloudy on Monday."

"Hope so. See you later." I wrote down Milk.

"Bye." I heard her humming to herself before I put down the phone.

"Will!" I shouted.

"Yeah?" He shouted back .

"I'm going to the shops. See you in a bit!"

"Bye!"

I shut the door and locked it, pushing th handle up as far as it would go. And I thought I'd never get used to that faulty lock. I turned around and gasped.

In front of me stood a tall, bronze, dark haired boy. He was shirtless, wearing ragged grey shorts which tailed to his knees. His expression was unimpressed, and I didn't understand.

"George. right?" His deep voice said.

I nodded. Then I realised, and my eyes widened. "Oh! Biyen."

"Where's Emery?" His dark brown, almost black, eyes glanced at the house behind me.

"I... don't know."

"Don't lie to me." His hands turned into claw shapes, as if he were about to strike.

"I'm not." I cleared my throat to stop my voice from trembling weakly.

He growled, and tried to step around me.

I stood in front of him defensively. "He's _not_ here." I said through gritted teeth; my hate for his ignorance overpowering my nervousness.

He shoved me out of the way and attempted to charge through the door, remembering too late that it was locked. I looked once at the keys in my hand at the same time he did. I ran down the drive, the shopping list flittering unevenly to the ground. I was surprised at how long I lasted. Probably because he spent five seconds arguing with himself over trying to burst the door open or race after me. He decided on racing after me, and when I looked back, he wasn't far behind. I dashed down the pathway onto Rockledge Drive, and he didn't falter with following. I was heading onto Longtrace Drive when he caught me. I was quite proud, lasting that long. Guess it was running for the track team.

"Just give me the keys." He had his hands locked around me arms, keeping them to my sides. I struggled, but knew it was worthless.

"Why?" I shouted, exasperated with his blindness. "He's not even _in there_!"

"Why should I believe _you_?"

"Because I honestly don't know where he is! I haven't seen him since this morning!"

He must have seen the frustration in my eyes, because he let go of me. "When this morning?"

Now that my arms were free, I wasn't going to just answer his question. I smacked him hard in the face as hard as I could. But my punch did nothing; it was like hitting a big, hot rock. Well, I suppose it didn't do _nothing_, because his face turned red with heat and his hands trembled. It wasn't until then that I felt the spasm of pain shooting down my hand and through my fingers.

I winced, but he remained in a state of anger, towering over me. And I wasn't small, he was just extremely giant.

"George!" I heard Will's voice shout.

Quakes of shivers trembled down Biyen's body. He was trying to fight it.

"George!" Will shouted again. I could see him at the other end of Longtrace Drive, where Windmill Cove lane ended. I gripped the keys in my hand harder, and stepped around Biyen, watching him tentatively.

I ran over to Will.

"Who the hell is he?" Will asked immediately.

"Doesn't matter." I sighed. "Let's go."

"No. Who is he?" His face was crumpled with annoyance. The disadvantage of having an older brother: Very protective.

"Emery's... cousin." I guessed.

"Emery. The one who was here the other day?"

I nodded. "Uhum."

"So what's his cousin's problem then? I heard shouting."

I laughed. "You do know you're in your pyjamas."

He shook his head. "Trust you to change the subject. I'm serious. Why's he bothering you?"

"Because he's looking for Emery."

"And you know where he is?"

"No."

"Did you tell him that?"

"Yes."

"Right then." He began walking over to Biyen.

"Will." I sighed, grabbing his arm, but he shook me off.

I stood in annoyance, and a little worried, as he walked over.

I saw his mouth moving heatedly, and Biyen said something back. Something horrid, I guessed, because Will's face flashed scarlet and it looked like he wanted to shout, but he kept his voice down for my benefit.

Will was only an inch smaller than Biyen, and that gave me the feeling that the leader of a pack of wolves wasn't going to hold back, even against someone two, nearly three years younger.

Biyen shouted at Will, something about me, because I heard the word 'her' in the midst of his yell.

Will threw a forceful punch at him. It hit Biyen bang on the cheekbone, and unlike mine, made him stumble two steps back. That was it for him. A powerful shock ran through his body, he snarled once loudly, and all of a sudden, shreds of clothing flickered to the ground and Biyen was no longer human. He growled a thunderous growl, and Will's face was horrified with shock. He stepped back slowly, shot a glance at me, and then darted around Biyen, who grinned smugly.

"Run!" He shouted, next to me in no time.

He was an even quicker runner than I was. It took me a while to un-jolt my muscles which had locked into place when Biyen transformed. I didn't look back as I ran. It took me a while to get going, but I eventually got into a stride that carried me forwards faster than I had ever run before. Who knew if Biyen had the same hunger for blood as Neel...

We ran round the corner of Longtrace and onto the golf course opposite the house. We stopped for a breather behind a red car parked by the far building, and looked over to see if he was following. A few seconds later, we heard a howl. That was our cue.

We fled onto the golf course and headed for the bushes by the sand pit. We saw Biyen run through the car park, but stop about fifteen metres away from us. He turned and ran in the opposite direction.

"Come on." Will whispered, pulling me up. We jogged back over to the house and I chucked him the keys.

He came back downstairs five minutes later, dressed with his leather RAF jacket on.

"Where're we going?" I asked when he opened the front door for me.

"Away from here. The..." He struggled for words. "Wolf might still be looking for us." He sighed, confused by his own words. I could see how this might come as a bit of a blow to him.

"Kay."

He handed me my bike helmet and I put it on willingly. "Where would you suggest?" He asked, sliding onto his bike.

"I don't know. Central Houston?"

"Yeah, busy areas."

He set off and we whizzed down Longtrace onto the main road. "Wait!" I shouted before he turned left towards the city. "Turn right."

"How come?" He asked, his voice anxious.

"Trust me. Get onto the 249." I ordered.

Soon, we were on the way to Vivienne's house. I'd been there three times now, and I pretty much knew the way. Indigo Lake wasn't hard to find anyway, and they lived right next to that. _As long as we were on the right side of the 45, we should be safe. _I thought, recalling mine and Vivienne's conversation earlier. But, _apparently_ those rules only applied to hunting, and I suppose Biyen thought of this as more of a game. He wouldn't dare come near the Galloways though. So going there seemed like a good idea.

I directed Will along the long drive, and the door opened as soon as we got there.

"George." Vivienne greeted me with a smile and a hug as I took off my helmet.

"Hey, Vivienne. Sorry to drop in like this, but I didn't really know where else to go. It's just in case."

"Wolves?"

"Yes." I sighed.

"Can't say I didn't warn you." She teased, gesturing for me to come in.

"I just need to hang around here for a bit if that's okay."

"That's fine." She waved to Will, and he waved back in politeness, even though he didn't have a clue who she was. "I'll pop out in a bit when the sun goes away. _If _the sun goes away."

"Bye." I said, and then turned around to face Will and explain.

"Who's house is this?" He asked, squinting in the sun as he looked up at the humongous home.

"Vivienne's." I replied, placing my helmet on the seat of the Suzuki.

"Ah." He leant against the bike. "So, you didn't seem at all shocked when your friend turned into wolf back there." He folded his arms.

I took a breath. "He's not my friend." I pointed out. "And... I may have known for a while..." I cringed, preparing for the consequence.

He sighed, shaking his head side to side slowly, toying over the idea. "Werewolves, though."

I nodded silently.

"Who knew."

"Me, I guess."

He laughed weakly. "It's just you to find _something_ unusual about a place. I wish you weren't such a trouble-magnet."

"Me too."

"Does anybody _else_ know?"

"Vivienne. Jay."

He gave me a long, slightly scornful, thoughtful look. "So where were you last night?"

"Ugh." I groaned, defeated. "Lake Conroe."

"Doing what, though?"

"Just taking a stroll through the woods. I'm not lying."

"No, but you're being very vague."

"I got lost, and so did Jay and Vivienne, and Emery."

"Does Emery know?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You're being incredibly intrusive!"

"I know. Don't I have the right after all this?"

"Yes..." I sighed. "Emery knows."

He nodded. "Wolves..." His expression was thoughtful, suspicious almost. "They normally travel in packs, right?"

"Yes, detective." I crossed my arms.

It clicked and his mouth gaped open a little. "So... how many are there?!"

I counted in my head. "Six. That I know of, anyway."

"God... next there'll be vampires in town." He tutted jokingly, wiping his eyes.

I heard a bellowing laugh from inside the house that could only be Sean, Vivienne's brother. My eyes widened in alarm, but I settled after a moment when I saw that Will hadn't taken any notice of it.

Another thing I would have to keep from him: that it was a family of vampires I had turned to safety for. All these secrets were growing to be a big, big pain. For one, Jay still didn't know Vivienne was a vampire. Will didn't know Vivienne was a vampire. Auntie Emma and Uncle Matthew didn't know Vivienne was a vampire. Hell, the whole wide world didn't know Vivienne was a vampire. Or that the family living on the reservation was a pack of wolves. Emery's truck drove up the long drive, and I stiffened in discomfort.

He skidded to a stop and slammed the car door behind him. His face was fixated on the Galloway's front door. I stepped into the route of his reckless path as he charged forwards.

"Emery?" I said, holding up my hands.

"What?" He snarled, ceasing a foot away.

"What are you doing?" I sighed, relaxing a little.

"Telling these leeches to stay away from all of you." He hissed.

_They could say the same to you!_ I thought. But I wasn't looking for another argument. "What's the point? Just go home."

Will waved courteously, not bothering to intervene. Emery's facade broke for a second whilst he waved back, his expression less raving, but then blazed back into fury as he reminded himself of his task.

A cloud shrouded the sun's light, and Vivienne and Maverick stepped out of the door, Vivienne's expression more welcoming than Maverick's. Before dealing with Emery, he turned to Jay.

"Maverick." He smiled.

"Will." Will sighed, shaking his hand.

"Emery, may I talk to you for a moment?" Vivienne asked politely with a smile.

"Go to hell." He shouted, sticking up his middle finger.

Vivienne chuckled, whereas Maverick stepped forward threateningly. "Leave, Emery."

He laughed his bellowing chortle. "No. I'm here to send a message."

"And what would that be?"

"Get out. Th truce is over, you have to leave."

"You can't break the truce over a petty argument the other day!" Maverick contended.

"Can't I?" Emery trembled and within the next second, he was a wolf, snapping furiously. The sun's light appeared again, and Vivienne and Maverick were back in the shade of the porch. Maverick stared into Emery's patronizing eyes with a frenzied expression.

Will stood properly, disturbed by the argument.

"Emery, STOP!" I screamed when his shoulders pulled down into attack mode, posing for a strike. It didn't stop him though, and he flew across the drive, aiming at Vivienne. _Why?!_ My mind shrieked. _She's done NOTHING WRONG!_

Maverick raced forward to protect Vivienne, and they hit each other head on, wrestling forcefully in the middle of the drive. The rest of the family appeared at the door, teeth bared. Though Maverick's skin glimmered in the sun, none of them dared to make the secret more obvious. They were fighting, stumbling, towards Will.

He dived onto the ground out of the way, and they both managed to dodge over him. His bike was trampled, but seemed to have survived. I dragged him up, glancing over to the doorway. Sean was laughing again, clapping his hands and cheering. Annabelle caught my mysterious gaze and giggled.

Will pulled his bike off its side and chucked me my helmet again. "Get on."

"No, I have to see what happens."

"Are you mad? Get on the damn bike."

I sighed, torn. "What if someone gets hurt?"

"What if _you_ get hurt?"

I need to talk to Annabelle.

"Annabelle?" He gasped for breath in astonishment. "Who's Annabelle?"

I nodded towards the doorway.

"You need to talk to her _now_? Of all times, George."

"I just want to ask her something."

"You obviously aren't as freaked out by all this as I am. Is it only me that saw that guy turn into a wolf and that guy wrestle him to the ground? Please explain to me how any of this is normal!"

"I'm used to it." I shrugged.

"I'll give you two minutes, then we're going home."

I ran to the house, still keeping an eye on the enormous wolf tackling Maverick into the trees. "Sorry to intrude, but, how come you guys are laughing?"

"Because it's not a _real_ fight!" Sean cackled.

"What? That's not serious?" My face crumpled in disagreement.

"Nothing critical, no." Annabelle answered, still recovering from the giggles.

"Oh. Well, Emery seems pretty serious."

"They're not going to kill each other, George!" Annabelle laughed. "You can stop worrying."

"Time's up!" Will shouted.

"See you later." I waved, stepping off the porch.

"Bye. So much for safe, huh?" Vivienne joked, waving.

I grinned and walked towards Will. He was wiping blood from his temple with his shirt, his jacket thrown over the seat of his bike.

"That'll stain." I warned.

He smiled sarcastically and continued. "That'll do." He sighed, handing me his jacket. "Put that on, I'm too warm."

"And I'm not." I tutted, sliding into it. I got on the bike and we set off again along the drive. When I looked back, they were gone.

If that wasn't a serious fight, what was? I thought maybe this was just a little too abnormal for me.

Excluding how anomalous my own life was.


End file.
